Dear friends!
This article again wants to show how a single coin can open the entry to a previously unknown world. Actually I have bought this coin because the
rev. was described as Phemios, a singer from Ithaka whom Odysseus has spared. But this description was wrong. The iconography of the nude male alone doesn't match a singer but better a hero. And really it shows Phemios, a mythological hero of the Ainianes. Here is the result of my research:
The coin:Thessaly, Ainianes, Hypata, c.302-286 BC
AE - Bronze
Dichalkon, 4.30g, 19.2mm, 180°
obv. Bearded
head of
Zeus, laureate, l.
rev. ANIAN - WN (from upper r.)
Heros Phemios, nude, except
chlamys over l. shoulder and extended l.
arm, sword
in scubbard, with sidestep stg. l., looking r., raising r. hand with slingshot
to
sling a
stone; 2 grounded spears leaning diagonal left behind
his r.
legref.:
BCD Thessaly I 1015;
BCD Thessaly II 31.1;
Rogers 137;
SNG Cop 4;
BMC Thessaly p. 12, 18;
HGC 4 50 (R1)
VF-,
well centered, dark sea-green
patina with exposed bronze spots, bumps and
marks, edge split
pedigree:
ex BCD coll. with tag "N. Rous., Jan. 90, 10000drs."
From
Forum Ancient coins, thanks!
Phemios:From Plutarch we hear that Phemios,
king of the Ainianes, has fought with Hyperochos,
king of the Inachians, for their land. Here is the
complete mythology (Plut. Quest. Graec. 13): When the Ainianes during their migration from Thessaly went down to the region of river Inachos, where the tribes of Inachians and the phthiotic Achaians dwelled, an oracle predicted, that some would lost their whole land, if they would give away something of it, but others would get it, if they could obtain something of it by peaceful means. Temon, an Ainianes, diguised as beggar and went to the Inachians. Just for the devilment and to mock him
king Hyperochos bestowed him a clod of earth. Temon appeared delighted and left without further words. But the Eldest remembered the oracle, went to the
king and warned him not to take the matter as bagatelle and not to let him escape. Temon recognized their intent, fled, promised
Apollo a hecatomb, and escsped fortunately. Thereupon the kings Hyperochos and Phemios came together to a single
combat. Phemios demanded Hyperochos first to chase away
his dog which he has bought along. When he turned around to do that Phemios killed him by slinging a
stone. Thereafter the Ainianes expelled the Inachians and the Achaians and occupied their land. That
stone was worshipped as holy and sacrifices were offered to him. And always when they sacrificed to
Apollo his hecatomb the most exquisit piece of meat was donated to the descendants of Temon. This piece was called "
Meat of the Beggar" (Roscher)
Hence the figure of the youthful slinger on the coins of the Ainianes is interpreted as Phemios (so
Head, HN, S. 448, fig. 173, and
BMC Thessaly to Aetol. S. 120ff.).
The Ainianes:The Ainianes were a Greek tribe in ancient
Greece who settled originally in Thessaly. They were related with the Myrmidons and the Achaians of the Phthiotis. When the Lapiths invaded their land they were expelled and the majority of them were searching for new settlement areas farther south in the valley of river Spercheios. From this time probably
comes the
mythology of Phemios and the fight against the Inachians.
The Ainianes were mentioned already in Homer's Ilias. Under their leader Guneus together with the Perrhaibeans they brought 22
ships from Kyphos to
Troy. Guneus survived the war and went to
Libya where he settled near the river Kinyps. Guneus remains a
bit obscure character even
his followers are placed in northwest
Greece.
Homer has not recorded anything about
his ancestry.
Hypata:The main city of the Ainianes was Hypata. Today's Ypati, a village with about 700 inhabitants in middle
Greece, is located ca.30 km
west of the Thermopylae and belongs to the community of Lamia. It is situated at the northern
border of the Iti mountain, the ancient Oita, hence its name Hypata, from
υπο Οιτα (= below the Oita).
It is known as site of the
Metamorphoses, the famous
roman of Apuleius (about 123 - after 170), known as
The Golden Ass too. The young
Lucius comes on a business travel to Hypata into the house of an usurer and begins a love affair with the servant Photis. After a festival in honour of Risus, god of laughter,
Lucius finds out that Pamphile, wife of
his host, is a witch. Secretly he watches her at a magic and can see how by using a magic ointment she transformes to an
owl and flies away. When
Lucius wants to copy this magic Photis accidentally confuses the ointment and he is transformed into an ass. After numerous adventures - many of them erotic - he turns to the Syrian Mothergoddess who as
Isis gives him back
his human shape after eating roses. He joins the Mysteries of
Isis and becomes in
Rome priest of the cult of Isis-Osiris
Excursion I: ErichthoThessaly was infamous in ancient times for its witches and its centre was Hypata. Whenever one talks about Hypata he has to talk about witches. The most famous Thessalian witch was probably Erichtho. She was expierenced in necromancy and a powerful necromancer. Sextus
Pompeius, son of
Pompey the Great, once asked her for the outcome of the Battle of
Pharsalus. She went with him to a battlefield, choosed an appropriate corpse and made it alive. From this dead soldier he learnt the gloomy depiction of a civil war from underworld and a rather ambiguous forecast of the
fate of Pompej and
his relatives. In the bloody Battle of
Pharsalus Julius Caesar then defeated the army of the Republicans under Pompey devastating. This is reported by Lucan (39-65) in
his Pharsalia (VI, 507-830).
Dante (1265 - 1321) makes use of Erichtho. In
his Commedia Divina it is told that Dante is led by
his guide Virgil into the inferno. Dante asked him wether anyone has done this journey before (and has returned!). Virgil answered that Erichtho once has forced him to descend to the lowest
circle of hell to bring back the soul of a dead soldier (Inf. 9, 25-30). This story has been invented by Dante. But surely it is related to the story of Lucan in
his Pharsalia.
And famous too is the appearance of Erichtho on the Pharsalian fields in the 2nd
act of Goethe's
Faust II as forerunner of the Classic Walpurgis Night. Here she causes confusion by mixing the time of ancient
Greece with the time of the
Roman Civil War and the Greek liberation war at that time. When the aeronauts Faust, Mephisto and Homunculus arrive, she flees,
Excursion II: War crimes of the SSSadly Ypati is known too for one of the most serious war crimes of the SS in
Greece. Ypati was a centre of the Greek resistance movement EAM-ELAS. In November 1942 Greek partisans made possible that a British demolition squad could blast the bridge over the Gorgopotamos river. This bridge was
part of the strategic railway line fom Piraeus to Thessaloniki, over which runs the supply for the
German Afrikakorps. As messure of repression the Germans executed 10 inhabitants. But the blackest day was the 14. June 1944.
German troops executed civilians and resisters, looted the place, burnt down most of the houses, destroyed
Byzantine churches and historical villas. This gets in line of a great number of crimes especially at the end of the war when the partisans became stronger. Ypati was declared Greek city of martyrs.
A longer and deeper discussion about the numismatic
side of this coin you can find on this
Forum under
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=84745.msg528903#msg528903Sources:
(1)
Homer, Ilias
(2) Plutarch, Questiones Graecae
(3) Lucan, Pharsalia ("De Bello Civili")
(4) Apuleius, Metamorphoses ("The Golden Ass")
(5) Dante, Commedia Divina
(6) Goethe, Faust II
Literature:(1)
Head,
Historia Nummorum, online too
(2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon, 1770 (Nachdruck),
online too
(3) Der Kleine
Pauly, dtv
(4) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und
römischen Mythologie, 1884-1937, online too
Online-Sources:(1)
Wikipedia(2)
Google pictures
(3)
Forum Ancient CoinsI have added the following pictures:
(1) The coin
(2) Ypati from
West (Robin Iversen Rönnlund)
(3) John
Hamilton Mortimer (1741-1779), Sextus
Pompeius consulting Erichtho
before the Battle of Pharsalia (Christie's
Auctions)
(4) Bridge over the Gorgopotamos (George Terezakis)
In the foreground you see one of the auxilliary piers, which were necessary after
blasting the bridge
Best regards