A rare coin from Carya

[kirispupis]

Note: I try to make my descriptions a bit humorous to make them easier to read. However, since my last several posts have received very little attention, I'm not sure if people just don't like the style or if I'm just not funny. So, if you prefer descriptions that lull you to sleep, please let me know.

Caria, Karyanda
Early 4th century BCE
Æ 9.5mm, 0.77 g, 7h
Head of female right, wearing stephane /
Forepart of bull butting right
Ashton, Beginning, pl. 3, 33; HN Online 1742

 

Once upon a time, there was a town called Karyanda in a land named Caria. Now, Strabo placed the town between Myndos and Bargylia, but Stephanos of Byzantion disagreed, and put it near Myndos and Kos. Confusing our town further was the fact that Strabos and Pliny both suggested that the town was in two sites, originally on an island also named Karyanda, and later moving to the mainland.

Partly because the citizens of Karyanda were a thoroughly confused lot, wandering around the landscape naming whatever they saw "Karyanda", their most famous citizen was an explorer named Skylax of Karyanda, who went on several quests given by Darius I of Persia in hopes of finding new places to name Karyanda.

In typical explorer fashion, he sailed down the Indus, where he came across random people and asked if anyone had found them yet. They replied that they were perfectly aware of their own existence, but hadn't seen him before. So, Skylax relayed the info to Darius, who conquered and enslaved them all.

Skylax also sailed around Arabia, but when he asked those people if anyone had found them yet, they, having heard the travails of India, replied that "some other guy" had gotten there first.

The works of Skylax are currently out of print, but we do know it was the origin for the word "India".

Coins from Karyanda are very rare. I haven't found any information concerning who the obverse was besides the fact that she's wearing a stephane. The ruins of the first Karyanda have since been found, though they're mostly worn away. The mainland town is believed to have been built over during Byzantine times.

[CPK]

I thoroughly enjoy your entertaining write-ups @kirispupis - they're both fun and informative. Please keep 'em coming!

Nice coins, too. 😉

 

[AETHER]

Humor also adds value , especially this day and age. 

[Rand]

I do enojoy your posts! Please, do not stop them. We can all do with an extra smile!

[Helvius Pertinax]

It definitely isn't that you've got a boring style of writing, and it seems like you've got a good core audience, which is gonna read your posts either way. 

 

I also enjoy your long writeups, however I am much more likely to read a smaller, fun text when I find myself on this forum every once in a while. Numbers may be better if you stick to that, ultimately it depends on what your goal is. That's my view at least.

 

This post was awesome, but so are your longer ones! The coins are top notch, and so is the storytelling 😁

[Homer2]

I enjoy this sort of post very much. I am a big fan of the "Totalus Rankium" podcast, who like to fill in the blanks in this sort of way where sources are lacking to advance the stories. Makes history fun. 

And I learned something new. Interesting coin to look out for.