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Greek Coins :
Greek City States : Pamphylian Silver Stater of Aspendos
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Pamphylian Silver Stater of Aspendos - C.2220
Origin: City of Aspendos
Circa: 370
BC
to 330
BC
Collection: Numismatics
Medium: Silver
$2,700.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
Obverse: Two Wrestlers Grappling
Reverse: A Slinger Facing Right, Legend
"ESTFEDIIUS" to the Left
Aspendos was a Greek colony and strategic port
and naval base in Persian territory, on the river
Eurymedon in Pamphylia. There were no coins
issued in the area until c. 460 B.C., after which
Aspendos struck large numbers of coins on the
Persian weight standard, widely used in western
Asia Minor. Beginning about 400 B.C., Aspendos
issued a new series of staters, which were struck
to the end of the fourth century. These depict
wrestlers on the obverse and a slinger on the
reverse. The types are unusual for their detailed
depiction of full-length bodies in active athletic
poses. It has been suggested that the slinger
was chosen for the similarity of the Greek word
for sling, sphendone, to the name of the town. In
the right field of the reverse is the city's badge,
the triskeles, three human legs connected in a
wheel-like formation, which had occupied a
more prominent position on the obverse of
earlier Aspendian coins.
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or purse? What eras and lands have the
coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of
who might have touched the coin before us, or
where the coin will venture to after it leaves our
hands. More than money, coins are a symbol of
the state that struck them, of a specific time and
location, whether contemporary currencies or
artifacts of a long forgotten empire. This
magnificent coin is a memorial to the ancient
glories of Aspendos passed down from the
hands of civilization to civilization, from
generation to generation.
- (C.2220)
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