THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

GREEK COINS
reasonable to agree with Dr. Head in assuming it to
represent a rural divinity, and the dog, duck, or cow,
which generally accompany it, as cognate adjuncts.
We see among the coins of Terina some of the finest
specimens of Greek art. Herakles already presents him-
self here as elsewhere on the money as an apotheosis,
whence it may be inferred, perhaps, that at the very
dawn of history his personality and patria had faded
into an obscure tradition, and so with other pieces
of Hellenic folk-lore. It seems clear from the plural
genitive form on the coins that Bruttii, rather than
Bruttium, is the correct designation.
Thrace.—This region was composed of the towns on
the southern coast, the Thracian Chersonesos, the Islands
of Thrace, the European coast of the Propontis, the
Danubian Provinces, the Regal Series, the Inland Settle-
ments, the Scythian dynasts. The most important
places were iEnus, Maroneia, Abdera, Thasos (the seat
of rich gold mines), Byzantium, Panticapasum. The
worships of Dionysos, Hera, Apollo, Herakles, and
Artemis Tauropolos are traceable in the coins. Not
in a technical, but in a human sense, Tomi, between
Istrus and Callatia, commands our respect as the place
of exile of the poet Ovid, and of his death. The regal
series extends from the fifth to the first century b.c ;
but the best period is that of Lysimachus (323-281),
of whom there are coins in gold and silver of good
style, and existing both in contemporary or early imita-
tions, and the former (the gold stater) frequently of
doubtful authenticity. The Greek currency of Byzan-