DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0733
658 The double axes of Tenedos
of the reverse with a couple of adjuncts—on one side a handsome
bunch of grapes, on the other a little Nike engaged in wreathing the
haft. It will be observed that the grape-bunch actually touches the
left blade, while the Nike is linked to the right blade by a short but
clearly-marked fillet1. I should infer that, at the time when this
coin was struck, grapes and a small Nike were kept dangling from
the wings of the sacred weapon.
Of the grape-bunch there is more to be said. FYom about the
year 420 B.C. onwards it is constantly associated with the Tenedian
Fig- 595- Fig. 596.
axe. And this, not only on the silver coins of Tenedos {e.g. figs.
585 ff., 593). Two leaden weights (Jiemimnaia) of the same island,
now at Paris (fig. 595)'- and Berlin (fig. 596)3, show the grapes as
well as the axe. And a bronze tablet of Hellenistic date (c. 300—
250 B.C.) from Olympia, recording a decree in honour of the Tene-
dian wrestler Damokrates, is embellished with two double axes
and a bunch of grapes (fig. 597)4. The grapes imply a Dionysiac
divinity of some sort, and go far towards establishing the contention
of L. Stephani3 and F. Lenormant6 that the axe refers to a Tene-
1 For the fillet thus used as a means of magic connexion see supra p. 408 n. o.
2 Babelon—Blanchet Cat. Bronzes de la Bibl. Nat. p. 678 no. 2241 fig. ( = my fig. 595).
3 K. M. R. Schillbach Beitrag zicr griecliischen Gewichtskunde (IVinckelmannsfest-
Progr. Berliti lxxiii) Berlin 1877 p. 13 no. 6 pi. 2, E. Michon in Daremberg—Saglio
Did. Ant. iv. 554 fig. 5734 ( = my fig. 596).
4 A. Kirchhoff in the Arch. Zeit. 1876 xxxiii. 183 ff. no. 4, F. Blass in Collitz—
Bechtel Gr. Dial.-Inschr. i. 332 f. no. n 72, W. Dittenberger—K. Purgold in Olympia
v. 75 ff. no. 39 fig-1 E. Curtius—F. Adler—G. Hirschfeld Die Ausgralmngen zu Olympia
Berlin 1876 i pi. 31, a. My fig. 597 was drawn from the cast in the Museum of Classical
Archaeology at Cambridge. The original bronze was found to the south of the south-west
angle of the temple of Zeus in the Altis.
5 L. Stephani in the Compte-rendti St. Pit. 1863 p. 128, cp. ib. p. 125.
6 F. Lenormant in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. i. 624.
of the reverse with a couple of adjuncts—on one side a handsome
bunch of grapes, on the other a little Nike engaged in wreathing the
haft. It will be observed that the grape-bunch actually touches the
left blade, while the Nike is linked to the right blade by a short but
clearly-marked fillet1. I should infer that, at the time when this
coin was struck, grapes and a small Nike were kept dangling from
the wings of the sacred weapon.
Of the grape-bunch there is more to be said. FYom about the
year 420 B.C. onwards it is constantly associated with the Tenedian
Fig- 595- Fig. 596.
axe. And this, not only on the silver coins of Tenedos {e.g. figs.
585 ff., 593). Two leaden weights (Jiemimnaia) of the same island,
now at Paris (fig. 595)'- and Berlin (fig. 596)3, show the grapes as
well as the axe. And a bronze tablet of Hellenistic date (c. 300—
250 B.C.) from Olympia, recording a decree in honour of the Tene-
dian wrestler Damokrates, is embellished with two double axes
and a bunch of grapes (fig. 597)4. The grapes imply a Dionysiac
divinity of some sort, and go far towards establishing the contention
of L. Stephani3 and F. Lenormant6 that the axe refers to a Tene-
1 For the fillet thus used as a means of magic connexion see supra p. 408 n. o.
2 Babelon—Blanchet Cat. Bronzes de la Bibl. Nat. p. 678 no. 2241 fig. ( = my fig. 595).
3 K. M. R. Schillbach Beitrag zicr griecliischen Gewichtskunde (IVinckelmannsfest-
Progr. Berliti lxxiii) Berlin 1877 p. 13 no. 6 pi. 2, E. Michon in Daremberg—Saglio
Did. Ant. iv. 554 fig. 5734 ( = my fig. 596).
4 A. Kirchhoff in the Arch. Zeit. 1876 xxxiii. 183 ff. no. 4, F. Blass in Collitz—
Bechtel Gr. Dial.-Inschr. i. 332 f. no. n 72, W. Dittenberger—K. Purgold in Olympia
v. 75 ff. no. 39 fig-1 E. Curtius—F. Adler—G. Hirschfeld Die Ausgralmngen zu Olympia
Berlin 1876 i pi. 31, a. My fig. 597 was drawn from the cast in the Museum of Classical
Archaeology at Cambridge. The original bronze was found to the south of the south-west
angle of the temple of Zeus in the Altis.
5 L. Stephani in the Compte-rendti St. Pit. 1863 p. 128, cp. ib. p. 125.
6 F. Lenormant in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. i. 624.