HISTORICAL GREEK COINS - eBooks4Greeks.gr

HISTORICAL GREEK COINStreasure to any but the depositor, the Prienianssuffered their city to be besieged by Ariarathes andhis ally, Attalus n. They succeeded in keepingtheir trust inviolate, and Orophernes eventuallyreceived his deposit back intact.Orophernes in his youth had been sent to Ionia,in order to get him out of the way, and secure thesuccession for the legitimate son of Ariarathes iv.and Antiochis. It was doubtless thus that his connexionwith Priene began. Later, when he feltinsecure on his usurped throne, he probably soughtto provide himself with support in Priene, and withthat view endowed the city in the way alreadymentioned. It has indeed been supposed thatOrophernes did not dedicate the statue of Athenauntil after the Prienians had shown their fidelity tohim in so remarkable a manner ; that, in fact, thepresentation was an expression of his gratitude. Except,however, for the four hundred talents about100,000 which had been preserved for him, wemay doubt whether Orophernes, after his expulsionfrom Cappadocia, was in a position to spend muchmoney on the Prienians. On the other hand, whilestill king, he distinguished himself by all kinds ofextortions, and by the plundering of the treasuryof Zeus. Probably, then, he thought well to investsome of this ill-gotten gain in securing the fidelityof a powerful Ionian city.The coins, as is clear from their fabric, must havebeen struck in some city on the western coast ofAsia Minor. A similar broad flan, with bevellededge, is found in the large tetradrachms of Smyrna,147