DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0737
662 The double axes of Tenedos
i has on the obverse a bearded head of Dionysos (?), on the reverse a
There are, then, strong grounds for supposing that the Tene-
dian coin-types relate to the cult of Dionysos. The main objection
to that view is thus stated by W. Wroth3: 'if Dionysos were
intended, the male head would almost certainly be wreathed with
ivy. On those coins, however, on which the head is wreathed, the
wreath is of laurel and not of ivy. Perhaps, therefore, the heads
are those of Zeus and Hera.' Wroth's conclusion is quoted with
approval by B. V. Head4, and would doubtless have commended
itself to C. Lenormant5, who equated Tenes the eponym of Tenedos
with the Etruscan Tinia6 and the Cretan Tan7. Such an equation
is, of course, philologically impossible. But the fact remains that
the head with its bay-wreath resembles Zeus rather than Dionysos,
and any hypothesis connecting it with the latter must account for
its likeness to the former.
On the whole, I should summarise the situation as follows.
Tenedos bears a name which is pre-Greek. A. Fick8, comparing it
with a second Tenedos on the borders of Lykia and Pamphylia,
with Lcbedos in Ionia (Lydia), and with Sebeda in Lykia, treats the
name as Hittite, and points out that Tenes or Tennes (for *Tendes)
was derived from Tenedos, not vice versa0. Now Tennes occurs
again as the name of a king of Sidon in the revolt of Phoinike
from Artaxerxes iii Ochos10. And Tenedos itself, as Pliny11 informs
us, was once called Phoinike. It would seem, then, that in the
pre-history of the island we have to reckon with the Phoinikes,
whose relations to the ' Minoan' culture were of the closest12.
1 Ant. Miinz. Berlin Taurische Chersonesus, etc. i. 329 np. 8 fig. ( = my fig. 601)
MHTOKO. The same king is known to literature as MtjSo/co; or Mt]56ktis (W. Pape—
G. E. Benseler Worterbuch der griechischen Eigennatnen^ Braunschweig 1875 ii. 912).
2 Sup?-a i. 659.
3 W. Wroth in the Brit. Mns. Cat. Coins Troas, etc. p. xlviii.
4 Head Hist, num? p. 551.
5 C. Lenormant Nouvelle galerie mythologiqite (Tresor de numismatique et de glyp-
tique) Paris 1850 pp. 7 f., 17, 19, Babelon Monn.gr. rom. ii. r. 122 and 365 f.
6 Supra i. 53, 622 f. 7 Supra i. 149 n. 1, 655 n. 2.
8 A. Fick Vorgriechische Ortsnamen Gbttingen 1905 p. 64.
9 Steph. Byz. s.v. Heveoos'...olovel Tevvov edos. Cp. infra pp. 669, 673 n. 5.
10 Diod. 16. 4 2 fif. 11 Plin. nat. hist. 5. 140.
12 Sir A. J. Evans in the Journ. Hell. Stud. 1912 xxxii. 278 : ' The people whom we
Fig. 601.
double axe surrounded by a grape-vine
(fig. 601)1. Finally, we have already seen
reason to think that in Tenedos itself
Dionysos Anthroporrhaistes, ' Smiter of
Men,' was conceived as embodied in
an axe2.
i has on the obverse a bearded head of Dionysos (?), on the reverse a
There are, then, strong grounds for supposing that the Tene-
dian coin-types relate to the cult of Dionysos. The main objection
to that view is thus stated by W. Wroth3: 'if Dionysos were
intended, the male head would almost certainly be wreathed with
ivy. On those coins, however, on which the head is wreathed, the
wreath is of laurel and not of ivy. Perhaps, therefore, the heads
are those of Zeus and Hera.' Wroth's conclusion is quoted with
approval by B. V. Head4, and would doubtless have commended
itself to C. Lenormant5, who equated Tenes the eponym of Tenedos
with the Etruscan Tinia6 and the Cretan Tan7. Such an equation
is, of course, philologically impossible. But the fact remains that
the head with its bay-wreath resembles Zeus rather than Dionysos,
and any hypothesis connecting it with the latter must account for
its likeness to the former.
On the whole, I should summarise the situation as follows.
Tenedos bears a name which is pre-Greek. A. Fick8, comparing it
with a second Tenedos on the borders of Lykia and Pamphylia,
with Lcbedos in Ionia (Lydia), and with Sebeda in Lykia, treats the
name as Hittite, and points out that Tenes or Tennes (for *Tendes)
was derived from Tenedos, not vice versa0. Now Tennes occurs
again as the name of a king of Sidon in the revolt of Phoinike
from Artaxerxes iii Ochos10. And Tenedos itself, as Pliny11 informs
us, was once called Phoinike. It would seem, then, that in the
pre-history of the island we have to reckon with the Phoinikes,
whose relations to the ' Minoan' culture were of the closest12.
1 Ant. Miinz. Berlin Taurische Chersonesus, etc. i. 329 np. 8 fig. ( = my fig. 601)
MHTOKO. The same king is known to literature as MtjSo/co; or Mt]56ktis (W. Pape—
G. E. Benseler Worterbuch der griechischen Eigennatnen^ Braunschweig 1875 ii. 912).
2 Sup?-a i. 659.
3 W. Wroth in the Brit. Mns. Cat. Coins Troas, etc. p. xlviii.
4 Head Hist, num? p. 551.
5 C. Lenormant Nouvelle galerie mythologiqite (Tresor de numismatique et de glyp-
tique) Paris 1850 pp. 7 f., 17, 19, Babelon Monn.gr. rom. ii. r. 122 and 365 f.
6 Supra i. 53, 622 f. 7 Supra i. 149 n. 1, 655 n. 2.
8 A. Fick Vorgriechische Ortsnamen Gbttingen 1905 p. 64.
9 Steph. Byz. s.v. Heveoos'...olovel Tevvov edos. Cp. infra pp. 669, 673 n. 5.
10 Diod. 16. 4 2 fif. 11 Plin. nat. hist. 5. 140.
12 Sir A. J. Evans in the Journ. Hell. Stud. 1912 xxxii. 278 : ' The people whom we
Fig. 601.
double axe surrounded by a grape-vine
(fig. 601)1. Finally, we have already seen
reason to think that in Tenedos itself
Dionysos Anthroporrhaistes, ' Smiter of
Men,' was conceived as embodied in
an axe2.