Lost languages on coins

[kirispupis]

Recently, I noticed this coin at auction and was immediately intrigued. To the left and the right of the kantharos were symbols that clearly weren't Greek. The only attribution was "Lydia. Uncertain mint." I had to take up this mystery.

Lydia. Sardis(?)
circa 350-300 BCE
Æ 11 mm, 1,90 g
Head of Dionysios left, wearing ivy wreath
Kantharos; F (in Lydian) and S (in Lydian) flanking
Vögtli, Pergamon 524
Ex Savoca

 

Given the attribution, I assumed the language was Lydian and a quick search verified that, though I was initially confused because I mistook the handle of the kantharos for an "I", which didn't exist in Lydian. To the left of the cup is an 'f' (look like an 8 ) and to the right is an 's'. Lydian during that period was read right to left so we have 'sf'. Interestingly, very early texts of Lydian were left to right, but by the 4th century it was right to left. Maybe they ran out of paper, so they had to go the other way?

For a long time, these issues were mis-attributed as Syros. Why? What is especially intriguing about this issue is its complete similarity to those of Naxos in the Cyclades(no photo since I haven't acquired one yet). The Naxos issue has the exact same obverse and reverse, but N - A in Greek letters instead of the Lydian. Earlier, numismatists took the 's' to mean the nearby island of Syros. I'm honestly not sure why they didn't catch the Lydian '8'.

In 1993, Hans Vögtli published "Die Fundmünzen aus der Stadtgrabung von Pergamon", an online copy of which I cannot find, but which was cited by CNG and Leu. I presume, based on the title, that he found some of these coins near Pergamon and did the math. Roughly twenty-two years later, someone finally read it and CNG and Leu changed their attributions.

While the city is still officially 'uncertain', pretty strong signs point to Sardis. The following is the reasoning

• The letters on the coin are clearly Lydian
• Sardis was by far the most important city in Lydia at the time
• There is no other known coinage from Sardis at the time, despite its importance
• 'Sardis' in Lydian is 'sfard'

Of course, I was initially excited at the word 'sfard' because I thought it may be the origins of the word 'sephardic'. Could my ancient ancestors have come from Lydia? Unlikely. The word Sephardic comes from the ancient word for Spain (Sefarad). Of course, one of my ancestors could have stayed at an Airbnb in Sardis at some point and I will never know.

Going back to the Naxos examples, that has me curious. There are a number of examples of cities issuing similar coinage, but Sardis and Naxos would make odd bedfellows. The two weren't exactly close to each other, and Sardis was an inland power without much of a navy. Perhaps the Naxos coins are also mis-attributed? I looked for coins that began with 'Na' in my Barrington Atlas and did find a 'Nakrason' roughly 80 km north of Sardis. The route would have been through valleys, so they would have been reachable from each other. Barrington lists the site of Nakrason as uncertain, so it may have been closer. Nevertheless, the distance could have been enough that they used Greek instead of Lydian, which was a shrinking language at the time.

This is just a conjecture, but I do wonder. Given that the earlier attribution of Syros validated the Naxos attribution, that's no longer the case. Now the known coins of Syros (don't yet have an example) were minted a bit later and had a very different design. Of course, if these coins have been found in Naxos, then it's a different matter (and interesting for other reasons - did the two cities trade or form an alliance?)

Picking up this coin was extremely important to me. While I do have a Persian siglos attributed to Sardis, I always prefer local coins with the city's name. More important, though, was the tiny coin's link to a now deceased language.

We have very few remnants of ancient Lydian left, though linguists have deciphered several hundred words. Nevertheless, imagine all of the works in Lydian that have disappeared. We don't know the standard Lydian greeting in the morning, nor can we order a pizza in Lydian. There may have been significant poetry and stories that are now completely lost. Think of all the Lydian comic books blown to the dust - characters that have disappeared long before Disney had the opportunity to acquire them.

Two words supposedly come to us from Lydian. The first is Labrys, which is a double headed axe. Had I not collected Macedonian coins, which were fond of double-headed axes, I would not have known this word. The other is Tyrant. We're not entirely sure that word's from Lydian, but they did have a lot of tyrants around, so it would make sense.

Show your coins in lost languages! 

[Parthicus]

This coin of the Lycian dynast Mithrapata (c. 390- 380 BCE) is written using Lycian script, which was used for the extinct language Lycian (part of the extinct language family of Luwian, formerly found in much of Anatolia):

I have a write-up on the "other site", which goes into more detail:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/lycian-dynasts-coin-in-extinct-script.387836/

 

[Sulla80]

Here's some "neo-Punic" on this coin of Numidian King Juba I.  This Carthaginian "neo-punic" script seems to have survived a while after the destruction of Carthage (a variant/descendant of the North Semitic alphabet which was spread by Phoenician traders).

https://www.sullacoins.com/post/rome-africa

Edited February 21, 2023 by Sulla80

[Jochen]

A coin with Sidetian legend:

Pamphylia, Side, 370-360 BC 
AR - Stater, 10.60g, 21.00mm, 165°
Obv.: Athena in double chiton stg. l., holding in extended r. hand statue of Nike and in l. hand spear and shield decorated with gorgoneion; left before pomegranate, behind arrow.
Rev.: Apollo Sidetes in short chiton and chlamys over his back stg. l., resting with raised l. hand on sceptre and  holding patera in extended r. hand; left before him altar, before and  behind Pamphylian legends.
Ref.: cf. Atlan 129; SNG France -; SNG Copenhagen 376; SNG von Aulock 4772

The best you can read about Sidetic is G. Petzl, Side im Altertum. Geschichte und Zeugnisse, 2 vols., Bonn 1993 and 2001. Petzl, in vol II p. 644-646 of the above mentioned work, deals with this coin inscription. He says that it is to be transcribed as siduwYiz, read from r. to left, with certain doubts from the u on, and interprets the word as an adjectivic derivation of the city name (ktetikon), so that it should mean "Sidetikon (coin)". The omega-shaped letter which made problems is turned upside down and is a d instead. The 5th and 6th sign are one and not two letters.

The visible legend on the rev. consists of 9 characters. Then we have fom right to left S I D U 5./6. unidentified, 7. unidentified, I (Sh). The barely legible legend on the left side is something like Greek ANAKTOV. The entire legend would be "Lord of Side"

Best regards
Jochen

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Jochen

[Ed Snible]

Sogdian:

Chach, Kanka domain, unknown ruler 7-8th century AD. 20mm 1.78g.

The reverse features a tamga is surrounded by the Sogdian legend ZNH pny tkyn c'cynk xwb - “This is the coin of the Tegin, ruler of Chach”.

[shanxi]

Welcome @Jochen

It looks like you lost the image of your coin when you posted it. So I hope it's OK if I post a link to the coin in your gallery?

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=180681

 

 

[Phil Davis]

16 hours ago, kirispupis said:

Recently, I noticed this coin at auction and was immediately intrigued. To the left and the right of the kantharos were symbols that clearly weren't Greek. The only attribution was "Lydia. Uncertain mint." I had to take up this mystery.

Lydia. Sardis(?)
circa 350-300 BCE
Æ 11 mm, 1,90 g
Head of Dionysios left, wearing ivy wreath
Kantharos; F (in Lydian) and S (in Lydian) flanking
Vögtli, Pergamon 524
Ex Savoca

 

...In 1993, Hans Vögtli published "Die Fundmünzen aus der Stadtgrabung von Pergamon", an online copy of which I cannot find, but which was cited by CNG and Leu. I presume, based on the title, that he found some of these coins near Pergamon and did the math. Roughly twenty-two years later, someone finally read it and CNG and Leu changed their attributions...

 

You know that Leu 22 years ago and Leu now are completely unrelated firms, right?

[Phil Davis]

"Viteliú"  ([land] of young cattle)  retrograde in Oscan characters in the exergue of the reverse:

Edited February 21, 2023 by Phil Davis

[kirispupis]

28 minutes ago, Phil Davis said:

You know that Leu 22 years ago and Leu now are completely unrelated firms, right?

I didn't know that, though the article was published in 1993 and Leu + CNG seem to have changed the attribution in 2015 and cited the article. Here's the text from CNG:

In previous sales, this issue has been variously attributed to either Cycladic Naxos or Syros. While both cities struck coins with the same types as on this issue, all of these cities’ bronzes consistently bear the first two letters of their respective ethnic flanking the base of the kantharos. On this issue, however, these Greek letters have been replaced by two Lydian letters, allowing its correct attribution to a mint in Lydia. Sardes is a possibility, as it’s spelling in Lydian was Sfard . (CNG would like to thank Costas Kanellopoulos for correcting the prior attributions, and pointing out Vögtli’s publication of this issue.)

[Jochen]

Another Legend in Oscan: 
 

Campania, Phistelia, ca. 325-275 BC
AR - obolus, 0.52g, 11.22mm, 270°
Obv.: Head of young man slightly right
Rev.: barley grain, above dolphin r., below mussel
           legend in Oscan read from inward left to right FISTLVIS
Ref.: BMC I, p. 1, 4/6; Sear 326; Campana, Agg. Fistelia 4a; HN Italy 613; Sambon p. 332, 831


Best regards
Jochen

Edited February 21, 2023 by Jochen