Ancient Greek Coins of Miletus

Robert J. O’Hara (rjohara@post.harvard.edu)

The ancient Greek city of Miletus in Asia Minor, on what is now the west coast of Turkey, was the intellectual and commercial center of the Greek world in the century before Athens rose to prominence. It has been called the birthplace of the modern world. These pages discuss the early history of coinage and present a detailed outline of Milesian coin types from the Greek and Roman periods.

PAGES: Illustrated table of contents—Illustrated numerical catalogue—History and weight standards—Chronological table—The electrum lion coins of the kings of Lydia (1)—The enigmatic “geometric” electrum series (1)—The sixth-century electrum lion coins of Miletus (2)—The electrum and silver lion/scorpion issues (3)—The silver eye-swirl/quincunx fractions (12)—The dotted lion-mask series (6)—The archaic twelfth-stater series (21)—The silver Milesian-style lion/bird fractions (14)—The lion-head/lion-scalp series (2)—Milesian imitatives of Hecatomnus, Mausolus, and Hidrieus (2)—The fourth-century bronze lion/sun series (3)—The Rhodian silver and bronze Apollo/lion series (8)—Early silver and bronze of Alexander the Great (5)—The reduced-Rhodian didrachms and their parallel bronzes (3)—The later Diadochian and civic Alexander types (2)—The third-century Persic silver and bronze Apollo/lion series (2)—The bronze facing-Apollo coinage (6)—The second-century silver Apollo/lion issues (5)—The wreathed bronze Apollo/lion series (8)—The bronze Apollo of Didyma series (2)—Roman provincial bronzes of Nero (2)—Roman provincial bronzes of Gordian III (1)—The Ottoman silver akçes of fifteenth-century Balad (1)—Puzzles, mysteries, and stylistic influences (4)—References and literature cited—Ancient coin resources online.

(1) Puzzles, Mysteries, and Stylistic Influences

Gathered here are an assortment of specimens that bear some relation to the coinage of Miletus, either materially or stylistically, but that present unusual problems of description or attribution.

(2) Uncertain Mint · Typeless / Dot Pattern · Electrum? · About 550 BC?

This tiny coin matches no published specimens I have seen. Its mint is uncertain, but it appears to be a Milesian-standard ninety-sixth stater, and so belongs to the general region of Miletus. The coin has a slight yellowish tinge (not well captured in the photograph) which suggests that it is electrum rather than silver, although this is not certain. The dotted reverse is somewhat like the quincuncial reverse shown in the Milesian eye-swirl/quincunx fractions, but it is clearly not identical to them.

(2a) EL Lydo-Milesian 1/96 Stater? (0.15 g)

I know of no other examples of this type in any other denominations.

(3) Miletus? · Lion Protome / Sun · Silver · About 500 BC?

This very interesting specimen is clearly of the same general type as the common Milesian twelfth staters, but it appears to be a forty-eighth. Klein (1999: #428) describes a single twenty-fourth stater of this type, but I can find no published reference to a forty-eighth. Is this specimen contemporary with the Milesian twelfths, or is it perhaps a later Carian imitation similar to Kayhan #833–840 and #862–867 (Konuk, 2002)?

(3a) AR Lydo-Milesian 1/48 Stater (0.29 g) · Unique Denomination?

I can find no published example of this type in this denomination.

(4) Thracian Chersonese · Lion Protome / Quadripartite Incuse · Silver · About 500–480 BC?

The Thracian Chersonese or Chersonesus (Greek for peninsula) is the stretch of land forming the northern border of the Hellespont. This peninsula was colonized from Miletus in the eighth and seventh centuries BC, and later when the region began to mint coins it adopted a version of the regardant lion type of its mother city.

(4a) AR Attic Hemiobol (0.36 g) · Unique Denomination?

Sear (1978: #1349–1350) describes only tetrobols and diobols of this archaic type; an example of an archaic diobol of 1.25 g is illustrated on Wildwinds.com. I have not found a published description of an archaic hemiobol. The Rosen collection’s #135 is a similar small fraction, described as an obol of 0.466 g, but it has a finished reverse with two pellets. Of that specimen Waggoner writes, “the small denomination of 135 is rare, if not unique” (1983: 11).

Update · 16 June 2006: Reid Goldsborough has recently documented a second 0.3 g hemiobol from the Thracian Chersonese. It features the same quadripartite “mill-sail” reverse as RJO 35.

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(5) Ionia/Caria? · Lion Head / Lion Protome · Silver · About 400 BC?

This small coin bears obvious stylistic similarities to many silver fractions from Miletus, but it may not be Milesian at all. The flan is flatter and thinner than is usual for the early Milesian silver issues, and the obverse lion’s head appears to be just a head and not a complete protome as is usual in the Milesian fractions. At 0.21 g it is quite a bit below the usual weight for a Lydo-Milesian forty-eighth stater. Perhaps it is an Attic-standard tetartemorion (0.18 g)?

(5a) AR Lydo-Milesian 1/48 Stater? (0.29 g)

I have not been able to match this type or denomination with any published specimens. The reverse appears to be a lion protome, but this is not certain.