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

Metal Size Weiglit
M
JE
M
M
M
M
4
2
2+
130-2
130-6
130-9
EUROPEAN GREECE.
ALOPECONNESUS Thracia.
Note.—
Alopeconnesus stood on the northern shore of the Thracian Chersonese, between the
Isthmus of Cardia and Araplus (Scylax, p. 28). Next to Araplus, southward, stood Elceus, situated
at the southern extremity of the Chersonese. The two latter names so closely resemble the modem
Aropos and Helles of the Admiralty Survey, that we can hardly doubt of the identity of the places,
Alopeconnesus, having been one of the chief towns of the Chersonese (Demosth. deCor. p. 250, et adv.
Aristocr. ; Liv. 31, 16), has probably left some vestiges of its position, although none seem to have
been observed by the officers of the Survey.
Head of Bacchus to r. B. AAQ. Cantharus, or cup of Bacchus.
Head of Pallas to r. R. AAiiDEKON. Fox to r. ; in field r., ear of com.
Cantharus between two stars. R. AAiill. Cantharus.
ALYZIA Acarnaniae.
'Note.— Alyzia was one of the Acarnanian colonies of Corinth ; the others in that province were
Leucas, Anactorium, Thyrrheium, and Metropolis : in the Ambracic gulf
were Ambracia and
Argos of Amphilochia. All these, as well as the great Corinthian colonies, Corcyra, Dyrrhachium,
Leontium, and Syracuse, were in the habit of striking didrachma in imitation of
those of Corinth. From the most ancient of these coins we may infer, that the custom began
about B.C. 440, when Corinth, dreading the naval power of Athens, formed a stricter alliance
with her colonies of the West, who, on their part, were alive to the commercial advantages
of issuing money, which enjoyed abroad the high credit of the ttiJXoj, or puUus (the little horse), as the
Cormthian didrachmon was familiarly called (J. Poll. 9, 76), a credit derived from its pure silver and
accurate weight, and which caused it to rival, as a favourite medium of commerce, even the silver
money of Athens, or that of Philip and Alexander, or the Asiatic cistophori. Such being the causes
which multiplied the colonial didrachma, these coins naturally became still more numerous after the
time of Alexander, when the Macedonian conquest of Asia and Egypt had greatly enlarged the
bounds of Grecian trade. To this time, in fact, the greater part of the colonial didrachma evidently
belong. We find also that the same considerations, which led the Athenians never but once to make
any variation in the types and outward appearance of their silver money, induced the Corinthian
colonies to adhere closely to Corinthian forms, seldom inscribing their names at length, and substi-
tuting only for the Corinthian koph under the Pegasus, a single letter or small monogram. In some
cases the koph was retained, and the monogram or initials of the city were pUced in a different
situation. The colonial coinage of Ambracia, Amphilochia, and Acamania, ceased probably
after the capture and plunder of Ambracia, by the Consul Fulvius, in the year B.C. 189, or
no more than forty-three years before the destruction of Corinth itself by Mummius. When
Augustus founded Nicopolis, soon after the battle of Actium, all the once flourishing cities near
the Ambracic gulf had fallen into decay, as appears from an epigram of the cotemporary poet
Antipatrus, who names Leucas, Ambracia, Thyrrheium, Anactorium, and Argos of Amphilochia, as
having contributed their inhabitants, or a large portion, at least, of their diminished numbers, to
people Nicopolis. For the situation of Alyzia, vide Tr. in N. Greece, iv. p. 14, and the Map.
(A)AYIAIflN.
to r.
Head of Palla.s to r. ; in field behind it, quiver? ft. Pegasus flying
Head of Pallas to I., below it, AA ; behind the head, Boeotian shield ? fi. Pegasus
flying to I.
AAYIAIiiN. Same Corinthian types ; but behind the head, bow.—
Electrotype from
the B. M.
Head of Pallas to
club.
r. R. AAY. Head of Hercules, with lion's scalp, to r. ; behind,
AMANTIA Epiri.
A^o**.—Amantia was situated on the Polyanthes, a branch of the Aous, 30 geographical miles from
ApoUonia (30 M. p. in the Tabular Itinerary). The site is now occupied by Ni'vitza {tide Tr. in N.
Greece, i. p. 375, and the Map).