Price 2803: Reattribution of a Macedonian Regal Bronze Coin from Western Asia Minor to Tarsus in Cilicia (Price 2803: Küçük Asya’nın Batısına Atfedilen Bir Makedon Krali Bronz Sikkenin Tarsus’a (Kilikya) Reatribüsyonu)

Year 2021, Volume: XXIX Issue: XXIX, 445 - 456, 31.05.2021

Dinçer Savaş Lenger

Abstract

Price 2803: Reattribution of a Macedonian Regal Bronze Coin from Western Asia Minor to Tarsus in Cilicia

Abstract

The subject of this article is the bronze issue which bears a shield ornamented with the head
of Herakles to ¾ r. on the obverse and a helmet on the reverse side along with the initials B-A,
monogram below left, and a kerykeion below right. These coins were issued to be given at the beginning of the month to meet the daily needs of soldiers in the Macedonian army. This issue
has been classified under the title of Asia Minor and sometimes Western Asia Minor without
any mint attribution in the main reference sources. However, there is no recorded example of
these from archaeological excavations and surveys carried out in Western Anatolia. But these
coins, which do not circulate in the west, appear in the Cilician region. Samples were found and
recorded in the excavations of Nagidos, Olba and Tarsus Gözlükule. The most suitable minting
place for these bronze coins, which are found intensely in and around Tarsus, is naturally Tarsus,
the most important mint in the region of the Macedonian kingdom. On other Macedonian regal
bronze coins minted in this city, the kerykeion symbol is often used and on some examples,
both kerykeion and monogram are used. More than twenty of these bronze coins known to be
included in museums of Ankara Anatolian Civilizations, Izmir, Sinop, Afyon and Adana are
included in the Mersin Archeology Museum collection, which is located only 25 km from Tarsus;
on the other side it does not circulate in Salamis and throughout Cyprus which issued bronze
coins with a kerykeion symbol and monogram. These facts support the attribution to Tarsus.

Keywords

Macedonian coins, Asia Minor, bronze coins, Tarsus, Cilicia, Hellenistic Period.

References

• Ashton 2004 Ashton, R. H. J.,“Kaunos, not Miletos or Mylasa”, NC164, 33-46. Baydur – Seçkin 2001 Baydur, N. – Seçkin, N., Tarsus Donuktaş Kazı Raporu, İstanbul.