The coinage of Amorgos : Aigiale, Arkesine, Minoa and the koinon of the Amorgians - article ; n°160 ; vol.6, pg 63-113

Katerini Liampi

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Revue numismatique - Année 2004 - Volume 6 - Numéro 160 - Pages 63-113
51 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: REVUE_NUMISMATIQUE
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2004
• Nombre de lectures: 38
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

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Katerini Liampi
The coinage of Amorgos : Aigiale, Arkesine, Minoa and the
koinon of the Amorgians
In: Revue numismatique, 6e série - Tome 160, année 2004 pp. 63-113.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Liampi Katerini. The coinage of Amorgos : Aigiale, Arkesine, Minoa and the koinon of the Amorgians. In: Revue numismatique,
6e série - Tome 160, année 2004 pp. 63-113.
doi : 10.3406/numi.2004.2553
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/numi_0484-8942_2004_num_6_160_2553Liampi* Katerini
The coinage of Amorgos: Aigiale, Arkesine,
Minoa and the koinon of the Amorgians
(PL V-IX)
Summary. — The coins minted by the cities and the Koinon of the Amorgians comprise a
source of information of great interest for the economic and social conditions of the island. A
small number of silver coins were produced solely by the mint of Aigiale at the beginning of the
2nd century B.C. Whereas, in Hellenistic times, short-lived issues of bronzes were produced by
Aigiale as well as Arkesine and Minoa at the end of the 3rd / beginning of the 2nd century B.C.
During the Imperial period, only Aigiale and Minoa minted coins. Both mints functioned during
the reign of Caracalla, issuing a few bronzes for the emperor and his mother, Julia Domna.
Minoa also struck coins during the reign of Elagabalus in the name of Julia Maesa and Julia
Cornelia Paula. Considerably interesting are also the conclusions we have reached - through the
iconography of the coins - of political connections of the Amorgian cities with great centres,
such as Athens, Samos, Miletos, Rhodes and the Ptolemaic and Macedonian monarchies as well.
It was determined that the numismatic activity of the cities was contemporary and that their
production of coins probably coincided with the Rhodian domination of the Cycladic islands.
Résumé. — Les monnaies d'Amorgos fournissent des informations sur l'histoire sociale et
économique de l'île. Seul l'atelier d'Aigialè a produit quelques monnaies d'argent. Au tournant
des HP-IP siècles, Aigialè, Arkesinè et Minoa ont frappé émissions de bronze, puis à
l'époque impériale, Aigialè et Minoa ont battu monnaie de bronze ; ces derniers ateliers ont émis
également des monnaies à l'époque de Caracalla, mais Minoa seulement a frappé sous le règne
d'Élagabale. L'iconographie des monnaies donne aussi des informations sur les relations entre
Amorgos et des grands centres comme Athènes, Samos, Milet, Rhodes et les royaumes Lagide
et Antigonide ; l'activité monétaire des cités de l'île paraît contemporaine de la domination des
Cyclades par les Rhodiens.
Introduction
The coins minted by the three cities of Amorgos, Aigiale, Arkesine and
Minoa, together with the coins of the Koinon of Amorgians, comprise a source
of information of great interest for the economic and social conditions of the
island. A small number of silver coins were produced solely by the mint of
Aigiale, whereas Aigiale as well as the other mints produced short-lived issues
of bronzes in Hellenistic times. During the Imperial period, only Aigiale and
Minoa minted coins; Arkesine did not. The mint of Aigiale functioned only
during the reign of Caracalla (211-217 A.D.), issuing a few bronzes for
* Université de Ioannina (Grèce)
RN 2004, p. 63-113 Katerini Liampi 64
Caracalla and for his mother, Julia Domna. Minoa started issuing under both for the emperor and for Julia Domna, and in the reign of
Elagabalus for the emperor's grandmother, Maesa (218-222 A.D.) and his
wife Julia Cornelia Paula (219-220 A.D.).
Amorgian coins were published for the first time in the 17th and 18th
centuries by Goltz, Gessner, Beger, Pellerin, Sestini and Eckhel with inaccurate
commentaries. During the 19th century Mionnet, Borrell, Waddington and
Postolaccas ' continued the presentation of the Amorgian coinage. The authors
of these publications had already expressed their doubts about the attribution
of a number of specimens to the mints of Amorgos. The echo of these doubts
has come down to our time, since there are still too few proven attributions and
because many of the coins described can no longer be found either in public or
in private collections.
Cadalvene, in 1 828, was the first to try to catalogue the few coins of the
Koinon of the Amorgians and of Aigiale that he knew.2 He was followed in
1870 by Lambros with an extensive study, which is still the only one dealing
exclusively with the numismatic activity of Amorgos.3 In his catalogue
Lambros classified Hellenistic coins of the Koinon, of Aigiale, Arkesine and
Minoa, including also the coins of Imperial times. At the same time he tried to
come to terms with the iconography, which had in many cases been wrongly
interpreted. He also tried to date the coins, although he gave no supporting
arguments. The specimens of Lambros collection,4 as well as those in the
earlier publications, cover practically all the types of Amorgian coins that were
known up to now. The present publication adds and presents for the first time
a few coins that were unknown to this scholar. In 1 870, Becker published two
studies in the Viennese journal Numismatische Zeitschrift,5 commenting on
Lambros' article and expressing his objections from the scholarly point of view,
which were shown subsequently by other scholars to be groundless.
From that time on, there have been no other comprehensive studies, so that
iconographical, chronological and other questions about the mints of Amorgos
1 Beger 1692, pp. 10-11; Goltz 1708, p. 272, pi. 22, nos. 9-10; Gessner 1738, pi. 9, nos.
14-15; Pellerin 1763, p. 27; Sestini 1796, p. 179; Eckhel 1794, p. 234; Mionnet 1807, p. 31 1,
no. 1; Mionnet 1829, p. 367; Borrell 1842-1843, p. 173, no. 1; Waddington 1853, pp. 250-
251; Postolaccas 1866, pp. 337-338, nos. 23-24.
2 Cadalvene 1828, p. 221, pi. 3, no. 16: one of the Koinon of the Amorgians and four of
Aigiale.
3 Lambros 1870, pp. 352-357, pi. 54: two bronze coins of the Koinon, two silver and thirteen
bronzes of Aigiale, four bronzes of Arkesine, two bronzes of Minoa and three of the same city
from Imperial times; a few years later he followed this with a supplementary work, Lambros
1876, p. 219. Huber 1870, pp. 241-246, in presenting Lambros's article referred to the earlier bib
liography of the 18th century and to the mistaken attributions of coins to the cities of Amorgos.
4 There are no coins of Amorgos in the Lambros collection, which was auctioned in 1910,
see Sammlung Lambros.
5 Becker, Studie, 1870, pp. 349-384; Becker, Gerâth, 1870, pp. 385-388.
RN2004, p. 63-113 The coinage of Amorgos 65
have remained unanswered. For this reason the coins of the Koinon and the
cities of the island have been collected and presented here as a corpus. We
should note to begin with that coins of Amorgos are rare, a situation that is
quite clear from the limited number of coins in the public, private collections
and auction catalogues. This shows that only a few dies were made and that the
issues, which were produced over short periods of time, were limited.
The problems and questions which we try to answer in order to determine
the numismatic policy of the island concern: a) the study of the dies, b) the
iconographical interpretation, c) the existence of one central or more mints for
all issuing authorities, d) the exact dating of the coins for each city in
connection with historical events and social environment, e) the circulation of
the local coins both inside and outside the boundaries of the island and finally
f) the introduction and circulation of foreign coinage which is discussed in
order to explore the economic relations of the island and its political orientation
at different times, and to determine who were its allies and on what states it was
dependent.
History and coinage of the island
The cities of Amorgos,6 during the late Archaic and Classical periods, when
the larger Cycladic islands began to mint silver coins, appear not to have
embarked on the production of coins, following, instead, the fortunes of other
Cycladic islands.7 The sculptural works and reliefs made in the cities of the
island, initially adhere to the styles and schools of the Cycladic centres, Ionia,
and Samos, and later on including Athens too.8 They reflect a society that is
affluent and has high aesthetic standards. Yet this society evidently had no need
of producing valuable coinage. One factor that clearly discouraged its
production was the small population of the island,9 a factor that more or less
prohibited the easy circulation of silver within the cities. This was the case in
other small Cycladic islands as well, where, likewise, almost no silver coinage
was minted (see n. 7). The obligations of the island on a wider commercial
scale or for other foreign activities were evidently met by the purchase of silver
coinage from other Cycladic centres or, initially, from Aigina and subsequently
Athens.
6 For the names of the cities of Amorgos and their alterations in the sources, see Pseudo-Sky-
lax, Periplous, 58 (GGM I, p. 47) (refers to the three citie