Numismata hellenica: a catalogue of Greek coins; with notes, a map ...

76
Metal Size Weight
M
M
M
M
8
3
M H
4
4
251
245
50
ASIATIC GREECE.
LEBEDUS Ionise.
Note.— Lebedus, although already in the time of Horace " Gabiis desertior atque Fidenis vicus,"
still retains vestiges sufficient to identify it at Xingi, about midway between Teos and Colophon. See
Admiralty Chart, No. 1893.
Head of Pallas to r. R. AEBEAIiiN A0HNAIOS. Owl standing, adv., on a club,
between two cornucopise ; all in a wreath of olive. Electrotype from the Bihliothlque
Nationale, Paris.
Same type. R. AEDEAIflN XHNiiN. Same types. From the Pembroke Collection
(909).
Head of Pallas, adv. R. AE . . . . A0HNAIO. Owl standing to r. and looking adv.
LEUCAS Syria.
Note.—
Pliny alone has made mention of the Leucadii of Syria, but too negligently to afford any
certainty as to their position. There is good reason, however, for believing that this Leucas was the
same place as the Abila which occupied a valley in the Antilibanus, on the road from Baalbek (He-
liopolis) to Damascus (Anton. It. pp. 198, 199). The present autonomous coin furnishes argument
for this conclusion. 1. The river which flows through that valley descends to Damascus, and the
name of Chrysorrhoas occurs as that of a river on coins of Damascus, as well as on this of Leucas.
2. Abila was the chief town of the Abilene tetrarchy under Lysanias, who was put to death by
M. Antonius, to gratify Cleopatra, in the year B.C. 36 (Dion 49, 32. Joseph. Ant. Jud. 15, 4), and one
of his descendants held the same principality about fifty years afterwards (S. Luc. 3, 1). At his
death the tetrarchy was given by the emperor Claudius to Herodes Agrippa II. to be a part of his
kingdom. Joseph, ibid. 19, 5—20, 7- Hence the AEYKAAI2N KAAYAIAIQN, which resembles
the AAOAIK.EQN lOyAIEON of Laodiceia Syriae. Vide supra.
AEYKAAIUJN. Victory standing to I. R. KAAY[AIAia^N XPYCOPO]AC. Head
and upper part of the body of a river-god, with extended arms, adv. Conf.
Eckhel, iii. p. 337. Mionnet, v. p. 308, No. 151.
Gordianus Junior.
AYTOK, K. M. ANT. rOPMANOC CGB. Head of Gordianus to r. %. AGYKAAiaiN.
Apollo in a quadriga, adv., his arms extended; in right hand, ? ; in left hand,
globe, on which is a Victory crowning him I ; in exergue, date defaced.
LYCIA in genere.
Note.—Coins of the province of Lycia are extant of the emperors Augustus, Domitian, and Nerva,
having on the obverse the letters AY, which, as well as the lyre, are common on coins of .the Lycian
cities. There can be no doubt, therefore, as to the attribution of the two following. They were
struck probably at Patara, the ruins of which show that it flourished in that age. Antiq. of
Ionia, iii. c. 3.
It was about the time of Augustus that the Lycian language ceased to be employed in writing.
Some monumental inscriptions of an earlier date being bilinguar, tend to show that the language was
already not generally spoken or understood. On the later coins of all the Lycian cities, the predominant
type is the lyre, in honour of the Apollo of Patara, which city from the time of Ptolemy
Philadelphus became the leading one in Lycia, though Xanthus was still the greatest in the time
of Strabo (p. 666). In an earlier age, many of the cities of Lycia impressed their coins with
local types and Lycian legends; and until, by the discovery of bilinguar inscriptions, a further
insight into the language is obtained, some of those coins will remain of uncertain attribution, the
Lycian names differing sometimes considerably from the corresponding Greek. The most complete
collection of this class of coins is in the Lycia of Sir Charles Fellows.
Trajanus.
AYT. KAIC. NeP. TPAIANOC C6B. TCPM. Head of Trajan to r. R.
YIIAT. B. Two tetrachordal lyres made of a cranium ; above, owl.
Another similar, but lighter.
AHM. ea.