The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal ... - IndianCoins.org

CHRONOLOGY OF THE COINS OF CHIOS. 24:7diobols of type No. 77 and their corresponding drachms.This would mean, supposing that my attribution of thegroup in question is correct, that these agonistic coinswere struck some time between 50 and 30 B. c.Theyare the forerunners of the well-known Imperial issuesof Chios with a figure of Homer on the reverse.The thyrsus adorned with fillets, which here formsthe reversetype, may be compared with the symbolon the drachms of type No. 69 with AZ(()AAHZ andAEHNIAHX, and on a small bronze coin describedbelow (type No. 93). The reverse of type No. 94 isalso very similar to this one.Nos. 80-2.We now come to the drachms that mayfairly be considered to belong to the years borderingupon the accession of Augustus, which event I amsupposing to have been commemorated by the issue oftype No. 82 [PI. IX. .11] No. 80 falls into this categorybecause of its style, lettering, and weight, whichso closely resemble those of No. 82, and No. 81 [PI. IX.10] because of the magistrates' names that it bears.The style of these coins has been referred to above.It seems reasonable to suppose that some effort shouldhave been made to produce the best possible workunder the circumstances, and, although the results arenot remarkable, the obverse designs of types Nos. 80and 82, at least, are an improvement over those of thetypes just described. These two issues may be said toresemble the best specimens of No. 69 more than anyof the intervening coins described here. The concavefieldof No. 80 suggests that some even earlier issuehad been taken as a model, for this feature has notbeen noticeable since type No. 63 /3, although therewere traces of it in Nos. 69 and 73.