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

IOLKOS AND PAGASAI 27
sculptural type, probably of the 4th/3rd century BC. 27 Schultz took the argument
further, 28 using another coin of the Magnetes with a portrait of Julia Domna (AD
211-217) on the obverse, and on the reverse an enthroned female figure. Rogers
had read the reverse legend as ���������� ������ ���, 29 but Schultz
corrected it to� ������� ������� and noted an enthroned female figure with a
fuller version of the legend,� �������� ������� ��������, on coins of the
Magnetes under Antoninus Pius (AD 138-161). This figure holds a flower (?) in
one hand and an arrow in the other, and has a quiver at her shoulder. The minor
differences in attributes do not undermine the hypothesis that a single statue lies
behind these representations of Artemis Iolkia, as Schultz rightly notes. 30
The warship prow on the reverse of the coins of Iolkos is rendered in
considerable detail 31 and their good state of preservation allows us to discern the
deck, the stem-post, the beak, the ram and the apotropaic eye. This prow differs
from those depicted at other mints in the area, namely Thebes in Phthiotis 32
(though a few dies show a similarity in the depiction of the stem-post 33 ), and
Demetrias (see nn. 18-20). The prow with slightly curving stem-post on several
silver issues of the Magnetes in the 2nd century BC bears some resemblance,
although there the waves on the keel are more skilfully drawn. 34 Nor does the
prow on the bronze coins of Demetrios Poliorketes attributed to the northern
region bear much resemblance. 35 The prow emblem, ���������, found on the
seals of Demetrias is very different from the prow on the Iolkian coins (see
below).
Was the prow on the reverse of the coins of Iolkos simply a warship, or was it
the Argo? The prow on the coins of Demetrias, both those issued a few years
after the synoecism (287-285/284 BC; see nn. 18-19) and those struck around
192/191 BC (see n. 20), has nothing to identify it as the Argo. Before 168 BC
the silver and bronze coins issued by the Koinon of the Magnetes (see n. 34) had
the same types as the coins of Demetrias, but with the legend ��������. After
168/167 BC, when the Second Koinon of the Magnetes was established, its
drachms depicted Artemis on the prow, 36 identified as Artemis ��������,
27 Franke 1967, pp. 62-4, figs 1-3 (with sources and bibliography). See also the discussion in Kron
– Furtwängler 1983, p. 168 (with n. 66) (Furtwängler).
28 Schultz 1975, pp. 14-6, figs 1-6.
29 Rogers 1932, pp. 118-9, no. 370, fig. 190.
30 Schultz 1975, p. 16. See also Kahil – Icard 1984, p. 671, no. 657, s.v. Artemis.
31 For the parts of the prow, see Svoronos 1914, pp. 81-152; Höckmann 1985, pp. 154-5; Morello
1998, pp. 28-9, 38, 93-4.
32 BMC (Thessaly to Aetolia), p. 50, no. 1, Pl. 11, no. 3; Rogers 1932, pp. 174-5, nos 550-1, figs
306-8.
33
Winterthur 1723.
34
BMC (Thessaly to Aetolia), p. 34, no. 1, Pl. 7, no. 2; Furtwängler 1990, pp. 310-5, Emission C–
F, Pls 5, 7-8.
35
Newell 1927, Pl. 17, nos 15, 19 (in the Hellespont region).
36
Furtwängler 1990, pp. 312-6, Emission D-G, Pls 7-8.