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

162
Metal
JE
JE
M
M
/E
Size Weight
U
2+
91
^2
METAMBRIA,
ADDENDA.
sive MESAMBRIA Thracise.
Diademate female head to r. R. METAMBPIANQN in two lines ; between, Pallas,
throwing spear to I. ; in field to I., A ?
METAPUS.
Head of Apollo to I. B. META. TIMON, in two lines; between, ear of barley;
in field to r., tripod.
Head of Ceres to r. R. Ear of barley ; to r., grapes ; to I., META.
NEOPOLIS Campanise.
Head of Diana to r. R. NEOnOAITQN, in two lines; between, cornucopise.
NUCRINI in Bruttiis.
Head of Bacchus to I. ft. NOYKPlNiiN. Horse, standing to I. ; under it, star.
ORTHE, sive ORTHIA ThessalijB.
Head of Pallas to r. ft. OP0IEIQN. Anterior part
of horse to r., issuing from a
rocky cavern ; on the summit of which, two trees ; all in wreath of olive or bay.
Note.—The Thessalian form of 'OpBiiiiav for 'OpBiimv proves this to have been a coin of the Oithe
which in the catalogue of the Iliad is named among the cities under Polypootes, whose district lay
between the southern extremity of Ossa and the north-western end of Olympus, and contained five
cities—
Argissa, Gyrtone, Orthe, Elone, and Oloosson (B. 739). The known positions of Argissa,
Gyrtone,and Oloosson (Tr. in N. Greece, iii. pp. 345 seq. ; iv. pp. 031 seq.), taken in conjunction with
the remarks of Strabo on the cities of Polypoetes, leave no doubt that Orthe occupied some position
in the country at the foot of Olympus, near Oloosson, now Elassdna, which town is watered by the
brandies of the Titaresius, and lies to the northward of the great plain of Larissa, a city not in
existence in the time of Homer, and then represented by Argissa. The name Orthe indicates a lofty
site or position on a steep hill, as already remarked with reference to Orthagoreia in the Chalcidic
peninsula ; it stood probably on a branch of the Titaresius, between Oloosson and the steep sides of
Olympus. In the time of Augustus, Orthe had long ceased to be a city, for Strabo states that
antiquaries were at variance as to its position. Some thought that it was the acropolis of Phalanna ;
but this could not have been the Orthe of the present specimen, hitherto unique, as coins of Phalanna
are extant of the same or nearly the same age. The singular type of a horse issuing from a cavern
in a forest alludes evidently to the miraculous production of the first horse by a blow of the trident of
Neptune Hippius on a Thessalian rock.
" Primus ab scquorea percussis cuspide saxis
Thessalicus sonipcs bellis feralibus omen
Exiluit."— Lucan. Phars. vi. 396.
The Orthienses may have pretended that this gi'eat event occurred in their territory, and pointed
out perhaps to strangers the cavern in the woody Olympus from which the ivvoaiyawi caused the
animal to issue.
OTHRYS Phthiotidis.
Bearded helmeted head to r. (Cseneus !) ft. Slinger to r., adjusting his sling ;
across the field, oe {^OQpvTSiv).— Electrotype from the B. M.