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Miletos, Ionia, c. 250 - 190 B.C.
Today most people think of the lion as strictly an African animal, but it is possible that, when this coin was struck, wild lions roamed near Miletos. An ancient source places them on the nearby island of Samos. The European lion survived in Bulgaria until the 4th or 3rd century B.C., in Macedonia until the 1st century A.D. In mainland Greece most were gone by about 100 A.D. but some survived in Thessaly until the 4th century A.D. It was then that Themistius wrote the lion had disappeared in Thessaly and regretted no more lions could be furnished for beast-shows. In Transcaucasia, the lion was present until the 10th century A.D.GB92025. Bronze AE 12, cf. BMC Ionia p. 191, 74 ff. (various magistrates), SNG Cop 985 (magistrate obscure), SNGvA -, VF, mottled blue-green patina, highlighting buff earthen deposits, nice style, edge crack, Miletos (near Balat, Turkey) mint, weight 0.911g, maximum diameter 11.6mm, die axis 0o, c. 250 - 190 B.C.; obverse laureate head of Apollo right; reverse lion standing right, looking back left at star of eight rays above, no exergue line, magistrate's name in exergue (mostly off flan); ex FORVM (2010); SOLD
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