Archaios | Greek Phyrgia Apameia Zeus/ Artemis Anaitis statue | AE

Description: Archaios Numismatics __________________________________________ Description: Autonomous Greek Bronze of Apameia in Phrygia, Asia Minor Ca. 133-48 B.C Obverse: Laureate and Bearded Head of Zeus Right Reverse: Shrine with Cult statue of Artemis Anaïtis facing, AΠAMEΩN to Right, Magistrates (Artemidoros, Baba) to Left (APTEMI-, BABA) Mint: Apameia, Phrygia Size: 21 mm Weight: 9.75 g Ref: SNG von Aulock 3470 var. Condition: aVF As always, Use the Picture as your judge as grading is subjective. Notes: Artemis Anaïtis was a fusion of the Greek Goddess Artemis (Roman Diana) and Persian goddess Anahita. As often happend in the Asian outposts the merging of the Greek (or Roman) and Eastern cultures and religions took place. Greeks entered the area with Alexander the Great among others. Tacitus (Annals 62) refers to the syncretic deity simply as the “Persian Diana”, who had a temple in Lydia “dedicated in the reign in of Cyrus” (presumably Cyrus the Great). From Head: Apameia was founded by Antiochus I (Soter) and named after his mother Apama, superseded the older stronghold and royal residence Celaenae which occupied the heights above it. Situated near the sources of the Maeander and its tributary mountain torrents, Marsyas, Orgas, and Therma, it was a central point from which trade-routes radiated in every direction. It became a commercial junction where goods arriving by the caravan routes from the east were packed in chests to be forwarded to the various seaports, Ephesus, Pergamum, etc. Before the expedition of Alexander, and the subsequent gradual extension of Greek civilization among the rude peoples of the highlands of cen- tral Asia Minor, a native coinage in these regions was non-existent, though the Persian daric was doubtless current along the more frequented trade- routes from Syria through the Cilician gates and along the river-valleys of Phrygia and Lydia to the Greek ports on the western seaboard. It was not until Greek and Macedonian settlers had been planted here and there in the country by the Seleucids and Attalids in mutual rivalry that coinage began to come into general use, and it was not until after the defeat of Antiochus at Magnesia, B.C. 190, when the greater part of western Asia Minor was assigned to the kingdom of Pergamum, that Cisto- phoric mints were established (B.C. 189-133) at Laodiceia and Apameia. Afterwards, when the administration of the country was taken over by the Romans (B.C. 133), Synnada, as a convenient station on the road through Pisidia to Cilicia, was also promoted to the rank of a Cistophoric mint. The autonomous bronze coins of Apameia range from B.C. 133-48, and are of four types . These four denominations are contemporary with one another, and bear magistrates’ names in nominative or genitive case with patronymic.. some of the names are identical with those on the cistophori.: ....(i) Bust of Athena, rev. Eagle flying over Maeander symbol, between the caps of the Dioskuri. ....(ii) Head of Zeus, rev. Cultus-statue of Artemis Anaïtis. ....(iii) Bust of Artemis turreted, as City-goddess, rev. Marsyas, on Maeander symbol. ....(iv) Head of Zeus, rev. Crested helmet, on Maeander symbol. From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: Anahita /ɑːnɑːhiːtɑː/ is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as Aredvi Sura Anahita (Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" (Aban) and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom. Aredvi Sura Anahita is Ardwisur Anahid or Nahid in Middle and Modern Persian, and Anahit in Armenian. An iconic shrine cult of Aredvi Sura Anahita was – together with other shrine cults – "introduced apparently in the 4th century BCE and lasted until it was suppressed in the wake of an iconoclastic movement under the Sassanids." The Greek and Roman historians of classical antiquity refer to her either as Anaïtis or identified her with one of the divinities from their own pantheons.Based on the development of her cult, she was described as a syncretistic goddess, which was composed of two independent elements. The first is a manifestation of the Indo-Iranian idea of the Heavenly River who provides the waters to the rivers and streams flowing in the earth while the second is that of a goddess with an uncertain origin, though maintaining her own unique characteristics, became associated with the cult of the ancient Mesopotamian goddess Inanna-Ishtar. According to a theory, this is attributed partly to a desire to make Anahita part of Zoroastrianism after diffusing from the extreme northwest to the rest of Persia. We Thank You for stopping in and taking time to look at and bid on our listings. Good Luck Bidding or Buying ! 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Price: 41 USD

Location: Seattle, Washington

End Time: 2024-02-07T19:15:21.000Z

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