Institute of Ancient History

The Lycia Project

The Coins of Lycia

The 'Dynastic' Period (ca. 510/500 - 360)

Based on recent scholarship, the coins of the 'Dynastic' Period (ca. 510-360 B.C.) can be subdivided into four groups (J. Zahle,Achaemenid Influences in Lycia: Coinage, Sculpture, Architecture. Evidencefor Political Changes during the 5th Century B.C., in: Achaemenid History VI: Asia Minor and Egypt: Old Cultures in a New Empire, (eds.) H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg/Amélie Kuhrt, Leiden 1991).

Group A (ca. 510/500 - 480/470 B.C.)

Types: Obv.: Boar and Boar protome, Rev.: varying Incusum.
These coins rarely carry a legend, but if a legend exists,it consists of a single solitary letter of the Lycian alphabet. The coinsof this group can most likely be assigned to one area of circulation, namely, the whole of Lycia. The Group A coins also seem to be minted accordingto one standard (Zahle: "middle standard").

Group B (ca. 480/470 - 425/400 B.C.)

Types: a broad selection of obverse and reverse motifsamong which are representations of divinities.
The coins of Group B often carry legends on which theissuer and / or the mint is named. There is as yet no evidence from the Group B coins or those from other categories to suggest the existence of a joint coin issue between either two "Dynasts" or two cities. Shortly after the appearance of the Group B issue, the Lycian coin standard divided into two different regional standards. The heavy standard, to which theGroup A coins share closest affinity, is localized in east and central Lycia. The light standard, which resembles the Attic-Euboean drachma standard as well as the Persian siglos, is concentrated in the Xanthos valley andthe remainder of western Lycia.

This stater belongs to the heavy standardand is associated with the Dynast Sppñtaza, who is localized in Central Lycia during the second half of the fifth century B.C. This particular coin was discovered in a sondage on <link typo3 avsarengl.html>Avsar Tepesi. The Obverse depicts the head of a goddess, probably Malija, who later became identified with Athena. Initially, Malija received the owl attribute; later, her image was superceded by that of Athena (a large component of the Group C issue). The elaborate hairstyle and the heavy earrings are striking. The Reverse shows a triskeles, which was essentially the national symbol of Lycia. The legend reads SPPÑTA(ZA), the name of the Dynast and thus the coin issuer.

Museum Antalya. SNG v. Aulock 4163-4165, 9, 72g.


Group C (ca. 430/420 - 370/360 B.C.)

Types: Obv.: often the head of Athena wearing the Attic helmet, Rev.: usually figural representations including many portraits (of theissuer?).
The entire Group C belongs to the light standard and is confined to western Lycia. These coins often bear the name of the issuer and/or the city minting the coins.

Group D (ca. 400 - 370/360 B.C.)

Types: Obv.: A portrait (?) of the issuer or various representations of a lion (in battle with a bull, or as a protome, or as a scalp). Rev.:figural representation and / or a triskeles, the latter shown mostly in connection with the lion scalp on the obverse.
The Group D issues all belong to the heavy standard andthus stem from central or eastern Lycia. These coins also often carry thename of the issuer and/or the city minting the coins. The coin stampsof this group at times display a high degree of artistic ability (see. e.g. SNG v. Aulock 4202 - 4253).

To the right a diobol (a small silver cointhe equivalent worth of the daily wage of a craftsman) of the Dynast Mithrapata. This small coin belongs to the lion / triskeles type. The Obverse depicts the frontal view of a lion scalp. This particular motif was used the mostby "Dynasts" on the Obverse sides of their coins. The Reverse of the same coin bears a triskeles as its central motif. The Reverse also shows a dolphin, another indicator that this coin belongs to central Lycia where the dophin often appears as the main coin motif. The legend visible on this particular coin reads M I TH R in Lycian letters and surely signifies the beginning of the name of the Dynast Mithrapata. This coin was probably minted at Zagaba which appears to have been the name of the settlement found on the <link typo3 avsarengl.html>Avsar Tepesi.

Private collection; cf. the Stater SNG v. Aulock 4241, 1, 38g.

The coin issues of the individual Lycian Dynastsend around 360 B.C. The cessation can perhaps be linked to the support these Dynasts gave to the losing side during the Satrap Revolt, a decision which resulted in a loss of power. The Greek colony of Phaselis, whichhad occupied a privileged position even before the foundation of the province under Claudius, continued to mint coins. During the Hellenistic period, Phaselis adapted its issues to the types of coins minted within the Hellenistic koine.

The tetradrachme illustrated here belongs to the Attic Standard and depicts on its Obverse Hercules with the characteristics of Alexander the Great. The Reverse shows Zeus Lykaios throned and armed with the symbols of his power, the scepter and the eagle, and the legend ALEXANDROYand PH(aseleiton). IB gives a date within an era beginning in 221/220 and thus assigns the coin to the year 210/209 B.C.
Private collection; cf. Heipp-Tamer Nr. 237, 15, 59 g.

The Independent Coin Issues during the Period of the Lycian League (168 B.C. - 43 A.D.)

Lycia, which had been under Rhodian control since the Peace of Apamea in 188 B.C., was granted independence by the Romans atthe conclusion of the Third Macedonian War. The Lycian League served asthe over-arching organizational body of the poleis. The League produceda uniform type of silver and bronze coins, although each polis retained its own right to mint. These coins conformed to the Rhodian drachme type. Adjustments came with the replacement of the head of Helios by that of Apollo or Artemis and the Rhodian rose by the kithara (or the bow and quiver).

Types: Rev.: the head of Apollo or Artemis (including honorary issues for Roman rulers); Rev.: often the kithara, frequently with additional symbol; legend LYKION and abbreviation of the polis minting the series.

To the right a drachme probably from the Lycian town of Kyaneai and dated between 167 B.C. to the end of the second century B.C.(Troxell: Period II, Series 1). The Obverse bears the laureled head of Apollo, the most popular male divinity in Lycia. One can distinguish thebow and quiver behind the shoulder. Another attribute of Apollo, the kithara,is evident on the Reverse. The Reverse also carries the quadratus incusumlike the Rhodian drachma and illustrates a further parallel shared by most of the Lycian League coinage with the once disliked Rhodians. The legendreads LYKION and KY(ANEITON). LYKION points to the membership of Kyaneai in the Lycian League.

Paris; Troxell 8.3, 2, 68 g.

To the right a drachme of the Lycian League in the Roman denarius standard in honor of Augustus (Troxell: Period IV).The head of the Princeps (Obv.) is set between the letters LY(KION). The Reverse shows a Kerykeion between two kitharatai as well as the legend TLO for Tlos, the city minting the coin, and KR, for the Kragos districtin which Tlos is located.

London; BMC Lycia 1935; Troxell 114.2, 3, 51 g.

Lycian Coins under Gordian III and Tranquillina (242- 244 A.D.)

After a two hundred year long hiatus, the Lycian cities (twenty in all with the exclusion strangely enough of Xanthos, Pinara,and Telmessos) began to issue bronze coins again during the reign of Gordian III (238-244 A.D.). No adequate explanation has yet been advanced for this permission to issue coins, a permission later revoked by Gordian´s successor Philippus Arabs.
Types: Rev.: Busts of Gordian or his wife Tranquillina; Rev.: divinities often closely associated with the issuing city.

This bronze coin from Kyaneai provides a typical example. Obv.: the bust of the Gordian with laurel-wreath, Rev.: Apollon Thyrxeus standing in front of a spring-basin on a mountain. In his right hand heholds a branch with ribbons over the spring, in his left hand he holdsa bow. Around KYANEITON XPHSMOS.

18,29g; BMC 11

Selected Bibliography:

  1. H. v. Aulock, Die Münzprägung des Gordian III und der Tranquillina in Lykien, IstMitt Beih. 11, Tübingen 1974
  2. H. A. Troxell, The Coinage of the Lycian League, New York 1982
  3. J. Zahle, Achaemenid Influences in Lycia (Coinage, Sculpture, Architecture). Evidence for Political Changes during the 5th Century B.C., in: H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg/A. Kuhrt (Hg.), Achaemenid History VI: Asia Minor and Egypt: Old Cultures in a New Empire, Leiden 1991
  4. Chr. Heipp-Tamer, Die Münzprägung der lykischen Stadt Phaselis in griechischer Zeit (Saarbrücker Studien zur Archäologie und Alten Geschichte 6), Saarbrücken 1993
  5. M. Matzke, Lykische und nicht-lykische Münzen, NNB Juni1997, 251 - 259 (einführend)
  6. F. Kolb / W. Tietz, Zagaba: Münzprägung und politische Geographie in Zentrallykien, Chiron 31, 2001, 347-416