★ A Magnificent Oktobol of Magnesia ★

Ionia, Magnesia ad Maeandrum AR Oktobol. Circa 150-140 BC. Euphemos, son of Pausianias, magistrate. Warrior, holding couched lance in right hand, on horse rearing to right; Δ (mark of value) below / Bull butting to left, MAΓNHTΩN above, EYΦHMΟΣ ΠAYΣANΙΟΥ in exergue; all within circular maeander patterned border. Kinns, Two 17 (O15/R5) = NFA XIII, lot 865 (same dies); CNG E-431, lot 198 (same dies); otherwise unpublished. 5.66g, 21mm, 12h.

Near Mint State. Extremely Rare - Kinns notes only the NFA example, and only four others are present in CoinArchives.

Acquired from Classical Numismatic Group.

This magistrate was also responsible for the until recently entirely unknown issue of gold staters that bear the bust of Artemis on the obverse and Nike in quadriga on the reverse. The reason for such an extraordinary output of coinage in the mid-second century BC at both Magnesia and at Ephesos is uncertain, but may relate to the regional conflicts between the kingdoms of Pergamon, Bithynia and Cappadocia in the 150s.

A city of ancient founding, Magnesia was originally settled sometime in the second millennium BC by Magnetes from Thessaly, from whom the city took its name, along with some Cretans. According to myth, the settlers were soldiers from Agamemnon’s army, disbanded after the Trojan War. It occupied a commercially and strategically important position in the triangle of Priene, Ephesus and Tralleis. The city evidently grew in wealth and power relatively quickly, as in the 7th century it was already strong enough to challenge Ephesus and go to war with that city. According to Strabo, citing Archilochos, at some point around 650 BC the city was taken and destroyed by Kimmerians. Strabo also relates that the site was annexed by Miletos, who may have been responsible for its reconstruction (though Athenaeus gives a conflicting account, attributing the reconstruction to Ephesos). Regardless, the city was evidently rebuilt by 547/6, when it was plundered by Mazares and subjected to Persian dominion.