Iolkos and Pagasai: Two New Thessalian Mints* - Royal Numismatic ...

34
KATERINI LIAMPI
the coins of Morgantina of the time of Timoleon 87 and of Pixodaros, satrap of
Caria. 88
The laurel-wreath rules out the identification of the head as the hero-founder
Pagasos, said to have been one of the Hyperboreans (Paus. I, 5, 8), but it and the
seven-stringed lyre on the reverse strongly suggest Apollo, presumably the local
Apollo Pagasaios (Etym. Magn. 646, 39) or Pagasites (Hesych., s.v.
���������). 89 Herakleides Pontikos (Schol. ad Hes., Sc. 70= 137, fr. III
{Tresp}) and the Scholia to Apollonios Rhodios (Argon. I, 238) both refer to a
sanctuary of Apollo Pagasaios, while the poet himself mentions the god’s altar,
which was built by the Argonauts before their expedition and on which they
sacrificed (Argon. I, 359-60, 402-47). Hesiod (Sc. 70) refers to the grove of
Apollo Pagasaios where his altar stood. Arvanitopoulos believes that Apollo
Pagasaios was also honoured in Pagasai in Archaic times with other epithets, all
mentioned by Apollonios Rhodios (Argon. I, 359, 404, 966, 1186). 90 He regards
Apollo Koropaios as a late form of Pagasaios. 91 The lyre on the reverse is
connected with Apollo in his role as Kitharoidos, and, either full figure or head,
he is depicted on Thessalian coins as Kitharoidos or Mousagetes, attesting the
musical tradition of the region during Classical and Imperial times. 92
The coinage of Pagasai was modest, to judge from the single known coin,
although more pieces may well turn up in future excavations. Its terminus ante
quem is the foundation of Demetrias, after which Pagasai soon declined into a
village. The terminus post quem is likely to be 354/353 BC, when the city was
liberated by Philip II, after his ejection of the Pheraian tyrants. As we have seen,
a date around the middle of the 4th century BC is also suggested by stylistic
criteria. Scholars such as Beloch, Arvanitopoulos, Stählin and Bousquet 93 have
remarked on the lack of Pagasitan coinage, although it was an economically
powerful polis. I suggest that the Pheraian tyrants had drained the city of its
wealth and inhibited the issue of coinage.
It is difficult to determine whether these small issues of Pagasai and Iolkos
should be dated immediately after the capture of Pagasai in 354/353 BC or after
Pherai came finally into the hands of Philip II in 344/343 BC. The head of
Artemis Iolkia supports the lower chronology because of the striking stylistic
87
SNG Ashmolean 1857.
88
Weber 6608.
89
Kruse 1942, col. 2309, s.v. Pagasaios; Moustaka 1983, p. 36.
90
Arvanitopoulos 1928, p. 77.
91
IG IX 2, 1109, l. 9-10. Arvanitopoulos (1928, p. 76) believes that the oracle of the god,
established by Trophonios, was transferred to Korope, a more peaceful and suitable spot for oracles.
92
Moustaka 1983, pp. 36-8; Moustaka 1997, pp. 89-93; for the Imperial period, see Franke 1992,
pp. 370-5, Pl. 81.
93 Beloch 1911, p. 443; Stählin 1924, p. 67; Arvanitopoulos 1928, p. 79; Bousquet 1988, p. 184
(with n. 11). Beloch 1914, p. 82, describes Pagasai as the ‘Haupthafen von Thessalien’ and a
‘blühende Handelsstadt’.