jahrbuch numismatik geldgeschichte - Medievalcoinage.com

Jahrbuch f. Numismatik u. Geldgeschichte 37/38, 1987 / 88 31
PETER F. DORCEY
(Oakland, N.J./USA)
The Posthumous Alexander Tetradrachms of Odessos
(Plate 5, 2 Tables)
Odessos, a Greek town on the western coast of the Black Sea (modern Varna,
Bulgaria), posthumously issued a series of tetradrachms in the narre of
Alexander the Great during the Hellenistic period. This coinage has neuer
been studied carefully before. M.J. Price sketched a rough chronology for
some of the names of the officials appearing on this series; however, his
dating cannot be accepted in many instances.' Based on a die study of the
Odessos tetradrachms in the American Numismatic Society (New York) and
in other collections and auction catalogues, I offer a revised list and
chronology of these moneyer-magistrates.2 Since so little is known about
Hellenistic Odessos, any information from numismatic sources about the city's
economic and political development cannot be ignored.3
Odessos' Alexander tetradrachms, like those of nearby Messembria and
Callatis and many other cities throughout the Greek world, represent a reaction
against the royal coinages of the time. They convey a political message
of autonomy after decades of foreign rule. By 341 BC Odessos was conquered
by Philip II (Jordanes, Getica 10, 65). What conditions were imposed
on the inhabitants by the Macedonian king are unknown, but the city might
well have been granted some limited measure of independence because of its
remote location. In 313, however, Lysimachus besieged and captured the
town (Diodorus 19, 73, 3), ending any degree of self-rule. By 302 a garrison
was even introduced into the city under Pleistarchus, a commander of
Cassander, allied at that time to Lysimachus (Diodorus 20, 112, 2). Only after
Seleucus' victory over Lysimachus in 281 did Odessos and other cities on the
Black Sea Coast assert their independence, reflected in their new Alexander
' M.J. Price, „Mithradates VI Eupator, Dionysus, and the Coinages of the Black Sea," NC
8 (1968) 6-7, 11. See also B. Pick and K. Regling, Die antiken Münzen Nord-Griechenlands
(Berlin 1910) vol. 1. 2. 1, 519-540; T. Gerassimov, „Beitrag zur Münzkunde von Odessos,"
Bulletin de la societe archeologique a Varna 11 (1960) 59-69 (Russian with summary in German).
2 Unless otherwise noted, all coins referred to are in the trays of the American Numismatic
Society (New York). Many obverse dies of the Alexander tetradrachm series from Odessos
are represented in this extensive collection. I would like to thank the Tate Dr. Nancy Waggoner,
former Curator of Greek Coins at the American Numismatic Society, for her helpful
advice and assistance with this article.
3 On the history of Odessos see: E. Diehl, „Odessos," RE 17, 2 (1937) 1883-1886; C.M.
Danov, „Philippopolis, Serdica, Odessos," ANRW II. 7. 1 (1979) 281-300.