kirispupis

Thanks! Though for some reason the page on Demetrios is not correct. It's showing the page for the Antigonid line. Will need to debug it this weekend...

Wow! That's an amazing addition! Here are my coins from Demetrios. Kings of Macedon. Pella. Demetrios I Poliorketes 306-283 BC. Tetradrachm AR 30 mm, 17,12 g Diademed and horned head of young Demetrios right / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ, poseidon standing left resting foot on rock, monograms at either side. Newell 90 Demetrios I Poliorketes AE 18 mm, 5.20 g, 6 h uncertain mint in Macedon or Greece (?) circa 300 BCE Prow to left. Rev. ΔΗΜ / ΒΑΣΙ Demetrios on horseback galloping left, hurling spear; to left, forepart of a lion right. HGC 3, 1024. Newell 179 and pl. XVII, 18. SNG Alpha Bank -. SNG München -.

The term "Diadochi" is vague since it literally means "successors", so in some sense we're all Diadochi. 🙂 The term is used differently and, as far as we know, they did not carry membership cards. Under most definitions, Demetrios would have a strong claim. He was proclaimed king at the same time as his father Antigonos and so in kingship was a direct descendent of Alexander. Philetairos did not deal with Alexander directly as far as we know, but he did deal directly with Antigonos, Lysimachos, and Seleukos, so he at minimum received the Diadochi newsletters.

Here's a more in-depth discussion I found recently. Sydenham, E. A. “THE COINAGE OF NERO. An Introductory Study.” The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, vol. 16, 1916, pp. 13–36. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42663722. Per the article, the fact that nearly all early coinage from Nero bears this mark indicates he ceded control of minting to the Senate early during his reign.

Some of these are true, but not others. See my original post. Demetrios Poliorketes minted coins with his own portrait during his lifetime. It's uncertain whether the Victory coins from Seleukos bear his portrait, but he did mint others when he was older, and his son minted coins with his portrait. For Lysimachos, there are some uncommon bronzes with his portrait. Finally, Philetairos minted coins during his own lifetime with his portrait, and these were continued down the line.

Although I mostly focus on Greek coins, I'll occasionally pick up Romans and my general goal is to obtain one coin from each emperor in a sort of Pokémon craze. Because I focus mainly on affordable coins in this space, I'm missing quite a few. However, one emperor that has been at the top of my list has been Nero, primarily because we share the same birthday. Because of that, I'd been planning to make a "big splash" by purchasing an extremely nice coin, but this one came up recently at auction and I rather liked it. Nero 54-68 CE Denarius Lugdunum 56-57 CE AR 19.00mm, 3.67 g Bare head r. Rev. EX SC within wreath C 207 RIC 12 What drove me to this coin was that it was minted during the early part of Nero's reign, which was considered quite good. He's depicted young here, before he became the fat monster that made him infamous. I also like that his name is very prominent. The funny thing is I wasn't even watching this coin at the auction, but I was targeting two rare Greek coins and two Koinon of Macedons. When I lost out on my top two targets but picked up the two others at minimum bid, I decided to aim for some "anti-snacks" and bid on three Roman coins with the aim of winning one to make the shipping worth it - only I wound up with all three (the others were Drusus son of Tiberius and Clodius Albinus). So, even though it's nowhere near as impressive as many Nero coins, I'm very happy with my pickup and I can now cross off the top Roman target from my list. Feel free to show your Nero examples!

Would you have a good recommendation for Pytheas? I see works from Lionel Scott, Barry Cunliffe, Francois Herbaux, and Joachim Lelewel. The last two are in French, which I can read.

Indeed! Where did you find it? 🙂 (context for others: the coin was purchased from @JAZ Numismatics)

With very few people left on my original list of Philip II, Alexander III, and the Era of the Diadochi collection, I've begun researching more people who pop up in the literature and searching whether a coin may be ascribed to them. In general, I have the following rules for inclusion, though in practice I've made an exception for each. Must have been active around the time of Philip II, Alexander III, and the Diadochi Must have had interactions with at least several others The person must either have had enough power when the coin was minted to affect its minting, or the city must be named for that person during his/her lifetime. The literature must make it reasonable that the coin was minted during the time frame he/she was in power So, while I was reading Plutarch's Life of Demetrios the other day, I noticed that Demetrios of Phaleron was dictator over Athens - having been installed there by Kassander - from 317-307 BCE, when he was deposed by Demetrios Poliorketes - the subject of Plutarch's story. The obvious thought was - could a coin be assigned to that time? Luckily, it didn't take too much research to determine the answer was "yes". Kroll discusses this specifically. The third and largest Two-owl variety (46) is the last Athenian issue that was struck before the destruction of the Kerameikos Building Z-3 between ca. 320-317 and the start of the Owl-left issue 50 in 307 (see below). 46 appears quite clearly then to belong to the 317-307 oligarchy that Kassandros installed under Demetrios of Phaleron. It is likely that one or both of the two related issues, 44 and 45, were minted during this same regime or under the 322-317 oligarchy that Antipatros established under Phokion. So, now all I had to do was obtain Kroll 46 or maybe 44 or 45, no easy task when it comes to Athenian bronzes. (note: yes, I'm sure Kroll's dating may be debated, but since his research bodes well for me, I'm accepting it). There are a few other types I've been waiting on for over a year now, so it would have to join the list. However, as luck would have it, I'd picked up Kroll 46 just the week before when an intriguing bronze popped up and I grabbed it. Attica, Athens 322/17-307 BCE Ae 3.2g, 12h Obv.: Helmeted head of Athena right within dotted border. Rev.: Two owl confronted, heads facing, on thunderbolt, all within wreath. AΘΕ below. Kroll 46, HGC 4, 1726 Demetrios of Phaleron was an interesting guy, a rare philosopher actually put into a leadership role. He studied under Theophrastos - famous today for his Characters - along with the famous playright Menander, who was the prime driver for new comedy (though personally I far prefer the old comedy of Aristophanes). He played a major role in Athens even before Kassander installed him, having been on the more moderate and less anti-Macedonian side of Phokion. He wrote extensively and was often quoted by Plutarch and others, but otherwise all of his works have perished. Even in ancient times, the efficacy of Demetrios of Phaleron's rule was controversial. One example is from Strabo. For although this man is reputed to have been rather tyrannical in his dealings with all others, yet he was kindly disposed towards the Athenians, once he had reduced the city to subjection; for he placed over the citizens Demetrius of Phalerum, one of the disciples of Theophrastus the philosopher, who not only did not destroy the democracy but even improved it, as is made clear in the Memoirs which Demetrius wrote concerning this government. But the envy and hatred felt for oligarchy was so strong that, after the death of Cassander, Demetrius was forced to flee to Egypt; and the statues of him, more than three hundred, were pulled down by the insurgents and melted, and some writers go on to say that they were made into chamber pots. After being deposed by the other Demetrios, he fled to Ptolemy in Egypt, where according to Diogenes Laertius: Hermippus tells us that upon the death of Casander, being in fear of Antigonus, he fled to Ptolemy Soter. There he spent a considerable time and advised Ptolemy, among other things, to invest with sovereign power his children by Eurydice. To this Ptolemy would not agree, but bestowed the diadem on his son by Berenice, who, after Ptolemy's death, thought fit to detain Demetrius as a prisoner in the country until some decision should be taken concerning him. There he lived in great dejection, and somehow, in his sleep, received an asp-bite on the hand which proved fatal. Someday, when I visit Egypt, this may cause a bit of unrest for sleep. Nevertheless, I'm extremely happy to add this coin to my collection, even though it was already part of my collection when I realized its significance. 🙂 Feel free to show your coins you realized were more interesting some time after acquiring them!

I believe they often hold their auctions in other countries, I assume due to Italian export regulations. I've seen at least one based out of London.

Great pickup with an interesting history + scene. Here's my only coin of Carthage. Carthage Circa 400-350 BCE AE 15mm, 2,4g Head of Tanit to left, wearing wreath of grain ears. Rev. Horse standing right; palm tree in background. MAA 18. SNG Copenhagen 109

Wow! I wasn't even aware of the type! Beautiful example. Here's my more typical issue. Seleukid Empire, Antiochos I Soter AR Tetradrachm Seleukeia on the Tigris, 281-261 BC Diademed head to right / Apollo Delphios seated to left on omphalos, testing arrow and resting left hand on grounded bow; ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to right, ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ to left, monogram to outer left and right. SC 379.5a; HGC 9, 128g. 16.80g, 29mm, 3h.

@rasiel thank you very much for your efforts here. Even though my priority is ancient Greek (especially bronzes), a few searches indicated this will be very useful. My advice would be to automate as much data entry as possible, because it's simply not possible to keep up with it by hand.

True, though as I remember you have to pay a 20% import duty that we don't have. 🙂

There's one particular dealer who tends to list interesting Greek bronzes for great prices, and I've written him a few times mentioning how I look forward to new listings. I've also written to auctions who ship quickly to express thanks. Mostly, it's a business to consumer transaction, but it's great seeing sellers who are truly passionate about the area and who have a knack for finding interesting coins to list.