Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

406 From Daimon to Olympian [ch.
we can, and this final evidence clinches our whole argument. It
also casts new light on the relations between Gaia and Apollo.
Apollo Aguieus.
The bronze coin 1 in Fig. 118 is from Byzantium. On the obverse
Fig. 118.
is the head of Apollo ; on the reverse an object
which, in the light of what has been already
seen, is not hard to explain. It is a mound
surmounted by a tall narrow cone-shaped
pillar, round which near the top is a wreath.
The cone with the wreath looks somewhat like
a cross, and might be mistaken for this
Christian symbol. We are however able to trace the type back
to earlier coins where all likeness to the cross disappears.
In Fig. 119 we have placed side by side for comparison (a) a
Fig. 119.
coin of Megara, (6) a coin of Apollonia in Illyria, (c) a coin of
Ambrakia in Epiros. All three show the slender obelisk or cone
of our Byzantium coin, but it stands on a basis not a mound, and
has slightly variant adjuncts. The Megara coin (a) is of special
interest, for Byzantium was a colony of Megara and doubtless
derived its coin-types from the mother-city. The obelisk here is
decorated with two dependent fillets and what seems to be a wreath
seen sideways, it is certainly not a cross ; to either side in the field
is a dolphin. On the coin of Apollonia (b) the pillar tapers slightly
to either end and has a wreath only. The coin of Ambrakia (c)
has two fillets dependent from the point of the obelisk, and here
a surprise awaits us.
The filleted obelisk on the coins of Ambrakia is the symbol
1 In the possession of Mr Cook, and published by his kind permission from a
drawing made for me by Mrs H. Stewart. For previous discussion of the type
see Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. Aguieus, p. 912.