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

128
Metal
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M M
Size
4
H
^
4.1
3i
Weight
ASIATIC GREECE.
Veiled and turreted female head to r. B. TAP2EilN. Naked human figure standing
to r. on the back of a horned horse ; right hand held up ; in left hand, ? ; in
field to I., AO, (in mon.) M.
Similar type. B. Similar figure bearded, with modius on the head, standing on the
back of a monster, having the head of a lion with horns, the wings of a bird, the
body and tail of a lion ; right hand of the human figure held up ; in left hand,
bipennis; in field to I., E, below which, AH (in mon.).
Note.—From Hunter, Mionnet, and specimens in the B. M., it appears, that a crown often accom-
panies the bipennis in the left hand of this figure.
Veiled and turreted female head to r. R. TAPSEON. A figure standing to r. on a
horned horse within a triangle on a lofty basis adorned with festoons ; in each
of the lower angles of the triangle, an altar ; in field to I., AP. AP. AI. 0. On
the apex of the triangle an eagle with expanded wings on a basis.
Note.—This appears to be nothing more than the type of the preceding Reverse in a shrine
or small pyramidal temple. It has generally been supposed to represent the monument of Sarda-
napalus, upon which stood the statue of a man' snapping his fingers, with a well-known inscription
in Assyrian (cuneiform) letters, which boasted that Tarsus as well as Anchiale had been built in one
day by Sardanapalus. The story, however, rests solely on the authority of Aristobulus of Cassandria,
who wrote his history in extreme old age, and whose only claim to confidence rests on his having
been son of an Aristobulus who accompanied Alexander. Strabo takes care to state that he only
repeats Aristobulus, and introduces his mention of the inscription with an ivwi ipaai; nor does
Arrian treat the building of Anchiale by Sardanapalus as any thing more than a Xoyog. From
Amyntas, cited by Athenoeus, it seems probable that, if ever there was such a monument, it was
not at Anchiale, but at Nineveh. No one states it to have been at Tarsus, and even had the people
of that city claimed Sardanapalus for their KriarriQ, as the monument is said to have boasted,
they would hardly have placed his sepulchral monument on their money as a memorial of the
fact, which, at most, was a restoration or revival. Tarsus having been a Phoenician city long before
the time of Sardanapalus, and which, after the fall of the Assyrian empire, cannot have had any
motive for preserving the memory of its subjection to that empire. Even of the long domination
of the Persians in Asia Minor, there remain few memorials on its money, and not a single legend in
the Assyrian character, which was then in use in Persia.
Another similar, but on the summit of pyramid, eagle with open wings to r. ; in
field to I., letters
before.
not quite the same, but disposed the one above the other as
Another similar, but monograms defaced.
Veiled and turreted female head to r. R. Same legend and similar type, but in field
to I., KA (in mon.), HP (in mon.).
Same legend and similar types ; but the pyramid has a higher basis, on which there
is a representation of four nymphs joining hands and dancing ; in field to I., AP
in mon., ANK in mon., and mon. 86, one above the other.
Electrotype from the
Pemhroke Collection (1003).
Note.—The beast in this and the preceding specimen has more the appearance of a lion than a
horse, which agrees with Hunter, Tab. 56, figures 20, 21, 22, in all which the animal appears to be a
lion with the horns of a goat. In every example, the right hand of the human figure is held up, and
has nothing in it, the attitude being the same as that of the deified emperors in their so-called
character of pacificators ; in the left hand, the objects vary, a patera, a bipennis, javelins, or a crown.
Vide Mionnet, iii. p. 621. I have already remarked (under Seleucus I.) that the horse with the
horns of a bull was a mixed Greek and Assyrian symbol of solar worship. The lion and the gryphon
were equally types of the sun. The figure standing on the back of the horned quadruped therefore
may be considered as Mithras, of whose worship there are other proofs on Tarsian coins of a late
date, or it may be called an Apollo Tarsius ; that is to say, Baal Tars in a different capacity from
that in which he appears on the silver coins of Tarsus, where the figure of Jupiter is accompanied
by symbols of Bacchus and Ceres.
TAPSEQN. Jupiter Nicephorus seated to I. R. Club bound with ribbons in a
wreath of oak ; in field on either side, monograms.
Same type. R. Same type. In field to L, H above M ; to r., TP, (in mon.) O.
AAPIANiiN TAPCeilN. Jupiter Nicephorus seated to I. ; Victory presenting to