DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45277#0655
LYCIA.
571
LYCIA.
[Fellows, Coins of Ancient Lycia, London, 1855.]
The coinage of Lycia confirms in a most striking manner the testimony
of ancient writers, especially Strabo, with regard to the Federal consti-
tution of the country. Among no other ancient people do we find
Federal institutions so wisely framed and so firmly rooted as among the
Lycians. The ancient Lycian League succeeded in maintaining itself in
practical if not in nominal independence throughout the period of the
rule of the Achaemenidae in Asia Minor, and its abundant coinage
testifies to the great prosperity of the country in the fifth and fourth
centuries B. c. The distinctive symbol on the money of the various
cities which took part in this Federal coinage is the Triskelis or so called
Triquetra, which sometimes takes the form of a tetraskelis or of a
diskelis. Various hypotheses have been advanced as to the intention of
this strange symbol (Lenormant, Mon. dans VAnt., ii. 74). The most
reasonable is that which has been put forward by L. Muller\ that
it is a solar emblem symbolizing rotatory motion. In this case it
would refer to the worship of the national Lycian deity, Apollo Avklos,
the God of Light. The animal types—Boars, Winged lions, Griffins, Bulls,
etc., must remain for the present unexplained (but see Preller, Gr. Myth., i.
195). The Lycian silver money falls into the following classes. The weight-
standard is the Babyionic, falling sometimes as low as the Euboic, the
staters weighing from 155 to 130 grs. Engravings of nearly all the
varieties here described will be found in Sir Charles Fellows’ Coins of
Ancient Lycia, 1855. It is probable that M. Six’s forthcoming article on
the coinage of Lycia in the Revue Numismatique for 1886 will throw much
light upon this branch of ancient numismatics.
Before circ. b.c. 480.
Forepart of boar or boar’s head, some-
times inscribed with PY, 8Y>|,
K AB (?), OS, or other letters. (Fel-
lows, Pl. I. 1. B. M. Guide, Pl. III.
34-)
Incuse square, irregularly divided by
transverse lines. Within, sometimes,
letters O—S, etc
fid Stater 145-130 grs.
Af Tetrob.1 2 42 grs.
At Diob. 20 grs.
As none of the letters in this series exhibit the characteristic Lycian
forms it has been questioned whether this class is correctly attributed
to Lycia, but as the type and the weight are both Lycian, it would seem
that these pieces were struck in Lycia before the complete differentiation
of the Lycian alphabet.
1 Det saalcaldte Hagekors’s Anvendelse og Betydning, Copenhagen, 1877.
2 If the Lycian Staters were divided, like the Corinthian, into Thirds and Sixths, the designa-,
tions ‘ Tetrobol' and ‘ Diobol' for the pieces weighing 48 and 24 grs. would be inadmissible. In
that case we should have to call them drachms and hemidrachms.
571
LYCIA.
[Fellows, Coins of Ancient Lycia, London, 1855.]
The coinage of Lycia confirms in a most striking manner the testimony
of ancient writers, especially Strabo, with regard to the Federal consti-
tution of the country. Among no other ancient people do we find
Federal institutions so wisely framed and so firmly rooted as among the
Lycians. The ancient Lycian League succeeded in maintaining itself in
practical if not in nominal independence throughout the period of the
rule of the Achaemenidae in Asia Minor, and its abundant coinage
testifies to the great prosperity of the country in the fifth and fourth
centuries B. c. The distinctive symbol on the money of the various
cities which took part in this Federal coinage is the Triskelis or so called
Triquetra, which sometimes takes the form of a tetraskelis or of a
diskelis. Various hypotheses have been advanced as to the intention of
this strange symbol (Lenormant, Mon. dans VAnt., ii. 74). The most
reasonable is that which has been put forward by L. Muller\ that
it is a solar emblem symbolizing rotatory motion. In this case it
would refer to the worship of the national Lycian deity, Apollo Avklos,
the God of Light. The animal types—Boars, Winged lions, Griffins, Bulls,
etc., must remain for the present unexplained (but see Preller, Gr. Myth., i.
195). The Lycian silver money falls into the following classes. The weight-
standard is the Babyionic, falling sometimes as low as the Euboic, the
staters weighing from 155 to 130 grs. Engravings of nearly all the
varieties here described will be found in Sir Charles Fellows’ Coins of
Ancient Lycia, 1855. It is probable that M. Six’s forthcoming article on
the coinage of Lycia in the Revue Numismatique for 1886 will throw much
light upon this branch of ancient numismatics.
Before circ. b.c. 480.
Forepart of boar or boar’s head, some-
times inscribed with PY, 8Y>|,
K AB (?), OS, or other letters. (Fel-
lows, Pl. I. 1. B. M. Guide, Pl. III.
34-)
Incuse square, irregularly divided by
transverse lines. Within, sometimes,
letters O—S, etc
fid Stater 145-130 grs.
Af Tetrob.1 2 42 grs.
At Diob. 20 grs.
As none of the letters in this series exhibit the characteristic Lycian
forms it has been questioned whether this class is correctly attributed
to Lycia, but as the type and the weight are both Lycian, it would seem
that these pieces were struck in Lycia before the complete differentiation
of the Lycian alphabet.
1 Det saalcaldte Hagekors’s Anvendelse og Betydning, Copenhagen, 1877.
2 If the Lycian Staters were divided, like the Corinthian, into Thirds and Sixths, the designa-,
tions ‘ Tetrobol' and ‘ Diobol' for the pieces weighing 48 and 24 grs. would be inadmissible. In
that case we should have to call them drachms and hemidrachms.