THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

GREEK COINS
dom, Paphlagonia, and Pontus. There is a plentiful
coinage of cistophori, &c, issued under imperial autho-
rity or licence in the name of the koinon or com-
munity of Bithynia. But of the cities separately there
are ancient autonomous coins from the sixth century
b.c. belonging to Astacus, Calchedon, Cius, and Hera-
cleia. There are gold staters of Cius, only known
from the Sidon find (1865). Some of the religious
indications on the money of the Pontic region allude
to the worship of Antinous, Apollo, and Demeter. The
money of Calchedon resembles that of Byzantium in
the presence of the bull, which here has an ear of corn
under his feet instead of a dolphin. The regal series
extends from b.c. 278 to 74, and consists of six dynasts,
so far as the evidence of coins goes. There are gold
staters of Nicomedes II. Epiphanes, b.c. 149-91.
Mysia.—In this division of Greece there are several
interesting and important considerations to occupy the
attention of the numismatist and collector. We can
only glance at them. Mysia embraced the ancient
and extremely prolific mints of Cyzicus and Lampsacus,
and was the source of that immense volume of con-
vention-money known under the name of cistophori,
of which the Bacchic type appealed to the common
religious sympathies of the population among which
they were intended to pass current. The principal coin-
centres were Apollonia on the Rhyndacus, Cyzicus,
Parium, Lampsacus, and Pergamum. The electrum
coinages of Cyzicus and Lampsacus are well known,
and in the case of the former we have the advantage
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