King Getas

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  • Stevce
    Member
    • Jan 2016
    • 200

    King Getas



    A cownapper as royal role model


    “Of the gods they worship only Ares and Dionysus and Artemis. Their kings, however, apart from the rest of the people, worship Hermes more than all gods, and swear by him alone; and they say that they are descended from Hermes.” This is how Herodotus describes the customs of the Thracians. Naturally, here we have the typical misunderstanding of a Greek trying to refer to foreign deities by using the names of the gods he worships. The truth of the matter is that things were a bit more complicated:

    The main deity of the Thracians was a maternal goddess who manifested herself in the mountains and who was associated by the Greeks with the Great Goddess, hence Artemis. She bore a son, a stone god who threw thunder and lightning and who was to be worshipped later as Sabazios in orgiastic rites. Sabazios had two faces. On the one hand, he was a dark god with a sinister appearance, but on the other hand he granted his followers exemption from any personal guilt. That was perhaps the reason why the Greeks recognized Dionysus in him.
    In a sacred wedding, mother and son generated their very first believer, Rhesus, who is likewise referred to as Orpheus of the north. He acted as priest of Dionysus in the Pangaion Hills and was identified with Ares, as we know from Euripides who dedicated a tragedy to him.
    Now, the only one still missing is Hermes; Herodotus uses that name to refer to Anax, the first mythical priest of the Thracians, founder of all Thracian royal dynasties, who traced her privilege of being the only initiates into the mystery cult of Sabazios back to him.
    Getas, King of wealthy Edones, traced his roots to Anax-Hermes as well. That was why he chose him as motif for his octodrachms of which Gorny & Mosch are able to present a specimen in an unusually fine condition in the upcoming auction on 10 March 2014. The obverse, showing Anax as Hermes in a completely hellenized appearance, illustrates clearly how well acquainted the Edones had become with Greek philosophy.
    According to Greek mythology, Hermes – already on the day of birth – first found the lyre and then quickly stole 50 cattle of Apollo, and that is exactly the subject depicted on the obverse of the octodrachm. Apollo noticed the theft but couldn’t track the thief because Hermes had covered his traces neatly. What he didn’t know was that a shepherd had seen him stealing and informed Apollo about it. The latter turned to the mother of Hermes, Maia, who referred to the peaceable toddler in his cradle. Young Hermes pointed out clearly that by all means he was much too young to commit something like that and that he had yet no knowledge as to what cattle means in the first place. Then Apollo went to Zeus and charged Hermes. By that time, Zeus had already tipped to the scam and condemned Hermes to return the stolen cattle. Hermes, in turn, got the lyre out, played on it and offered the musical instrument to Apollo in exchange for the 50 cattle. Apollo agreed and so peace between the gods was restored.
    King Getas, who had this coin minted, was one the most powerful rulers in Macedonia. He was a contemporary – and rival – of Alexander I, King of the Macedons and ruled over a territory with immense natural resources. The center of power was the region at the tailwater of the Strymon River, that was of high strategic importance, where the city of Amphipolis was to be founded – and fiercely fought over – later. Getas controlled both the silver and the gold mines in the Pangaion Hills. The silver yielded there was used to mint the large octrodrachms.

    But one question remains: why did the king of the Edones need these coins that weren’t suited for the local retail trade? Many specimens were found at places that were ruled by Persians in the days of Getas. Some scholars take that as evidence for the octodrachm being produced as tribute for the Persian king. After all, Persian troops had tried to gain control of rich northern Greece as early as the turn of the 6th to the 5th century. In 480, they succeeded eventually, when Xerxes forced the Edones to join his army in his fight against Athens. Did the Edones become truly autonomous after the Persian troops left in 476? Did they continue to pay a nominal tribute to the Persian ruler? The sources provide no answer to that.

    What we do know, however, is that, after their victory over the Persians, the Athenians tried to gain control over the treasures in the north. The Edones wore themselves out in a fight against the Macedonian king on the one side and the Athenians on the other side. It was in 424 that the last Edonian king lost his life in a battle over future Amphipolis. The Edones disappeared from history. The name Edonis for a region of the Roman province is the only thing that recalls its former prosperity.
  • Stevce
    Member
    • Jan 2016
    • 200

    #2


    As Hermes stole cattle, the Thracian coin designers “stole” an image from Greek mythology, evidence of the fluid nature of both mythology and coinage.

    A Thracian silver octodrachm depicting a Greek legend highlights Gorny & Mosch’s March 10 to 14 auctions in Munich. The coin speaks to growing influence, in the era, of Greek mythology beyond the Greek world.

    The Edoni were a Thracian tribe who inhabited the region around the lower Strymon River, east of Lake Kerkinitis, in northern Macedonia. The town of Myrkinos was their chief center. They claimed to have descended from their founder Edonos, grandson of Ares.

    The tribe is known only from its coins, and all known coins of the Edoni are in the name of King Getas, whom researcher-author Colin Kraay, writing in Archaic and Classical Greek Coins, suggests is a slightly younger contemporary of Alexander I of Macedon (498 to 454 BC).
    The coin features on its obverse Hermes, depicted as a shepherd wearing a petasos (a sun hat common to the region), carrying off two cattle. Hermes reportedly represents the mythical Thracian priest of Hermes, Anax, to whom the Thracian dynasty traced its lineage.

    Anax as Hermes on the coin has a completely Hellenized appearance, illustrating clearly how well-acquainted the Edoni had become with Greek thinking, according to the auction house.

    In the myth, the day Hermes was born he found a lyre and stole 50 head of cattle from Apollo. When approached about the crime, his mother, Maia, pointed to the peaceful baby in his cradle and claimed he was too young to perpetrate the act. Though Hermes covered his tracks, Zeus had seen the act and told Apollo. Hermes was going to have to return the cattle. Instead, he picked up the lyre and offered it to satisfy the debt. Apollo agreed, and peace between the gods was restored.

    The reverse of the coin shows a four-part incuse box with a wheel.

    Researcher Kraay suggests that this exceedingly rare type, with a reverse inscription translating as “a coin of Getas, King of the Edonians,” is the earliest Edoni coinage.

    Getas, who had this coin minted, was one the most powerful rulers in Macedonia. He was a contemporary — and rival — of Alexander I, king of the Macedons. Getas ruled a territory with immense natural resources, including both the silver and the gold mines in the Pangaion Hills. The silver from there was used to mint the large octodrachms.

    It is still unclear why the coins were issued, as they weren’t suited for the local retail trade, the auction house said.

    Many specimens were found at places that were ruled by Persians in the days of Getas.

    Kraay believes the coins were struck to pay Persian tribute, between 513 and 479 B.C., as Persian troops had tried to gain control of rich northern Greece around that time.

    After their victory over the Persians in 476 B.C., the Athenians tried to gain control over the same treasures. The Edoni got caught between two enemies, the Macedonian king on the one side and the Athenians on the other side. In 424 B.C., the last Edonian king died and the Edoni disappeared into history.

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    • Stevce
      Member
      • Jan 2016
      • 200

      #3
      Offering Roman coins, Greek coins, ancient coins, British coins, medieval coins, coin auctions, renaissance coins, Indian coins, rare coins, Celtic coins, European coins, Jewish coins.


      The Edones, a Thraco-Macedonian group living east of the Strymon River near Mt. Pangaion, claimed descent from their eponymous founder Edonos, the grandson of Ares. Like other groups of the region, they were headed by chieftains who eventually adopted the nominal title of Basileus. Little is known of the early history of the region, but as was confirmed by Doris Raymond (Macedonian Regal Coinage) the local tribes formed a regional alliance whose coinage adopted a common weight standard and employed designs with regional mythological associations.

      Babelon, and later, Kraay suggested the earliest Getas coinage, that with the name the obverse (Tatscheva Type II) was struck to pay Persian tribute. Early on, Gaebler doubted the authenticity of the only known example of this type. The Decadrachm Hoard’s downdating of the issue and the discovery of contemporary fractions have seriously challenged this hypothesis. Tatscheva left the matter open. She did, however, assign the start date for her Type III, of which our coin is an example, to no earlier than 476 BC, a date based on the stylistic similarity of the type to that of the Raymond Group I Alexander I octodrachms. This date is confirmed by the presence of a Raymond Group II Alexander I octadrachm in the Asyut hoard which closed circa 475 BC. She proposed that event which prompted this issue’s introduction was the Kimon’s expulsion of the Persian’s from the region in 476 BC.

      After the end of the Persian wars, Alexander I moved to extend his control over the Thraco-Macedonian region. To emphasize his authority, he now added ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ on the reverse of the horseman types he continued to strike. During this same period, the Edones, like the Orreskioi, continued to strike the herdsman type, first struck by the Ichnai in the late sixth century BC, a type the Macedonians did not use. By now including ΓΕΤΑ[Σ] ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥ[Σ] ΗΔΩΝΕΩΝ on the reverse, Getas emphasized not only his role as king, independent of Alexander, but also the sovereignty of the Edonian territory in the face of Macedonian expansion.

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      • Stevce
        Member
        • Jan 2016
        • 200

        #4


        This exceedingly rare Archaic issue of the little-known Edones tribe in northern Macedon is remarkable on a number of levels. The Edones lived east of the Strymon River near Mount Pangaion and claimed descent from their founder Edonos, grandson of Ares. While their origins and early history remain shrouded in mystery, we do know they formed alliances with other Thraco-Macedonian tribes to preserve their identity against the encroaching Macedonian Kingdom to the south and Persian Empire to the East. The allies also adopted a regional coinage with a common weight standard and similar designs. This coin also marks the first time the word nomisma, or coin, was utilized in any form. All of these coins were considerably larger and heavier than other Greek and Persian denominations, pointing to the rich silver deposits in the region; in fact these Archaic coins could also be viewed as stamped silver ingots. All known coins of the Edones are in the name of King Getas, whom Kraay suggests is a "slightly younger contemporary of Alexander I of Macedon" (498-454 BC). Kraay also surmises that this exceedingly rare type, with a remarkable obverse inscription translating as "a coin of Getas, King of the Edonians," is the earliest Edones coinage and was struck to pay Persian tribute between 513 and 479 BC. The Decadrachm Hoard's downdating of the Thraco-Macedonian octodrachm issues to after the battle of Plataea and the discovery of contemporary fractions have challenged this hypothesis. It is now believed Getas and other Thraco-Macedonian tribal "kings" struck their coins to assert their independence from the Macedonian Kingdom, which was moving to fill the vacuum in the region caused by the expulsion of the Persians.

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        • Stevce
          Member
          • Jan 2016
          • 200

          #5
          A Companion to Ancient Thrace presents a series of essays that reveal the newly recognized complexity of the social and cultural phenomena of the peoples inhabiting the Balkan periphery of the Classical world. • Features a rich and detailed overview of Thracian history from the Early Iron Age to Late Antiquity • Includes contributions from leading scholars in the archaeology, art history, and general history of Thrace • Balances consideration of material evidence relating to Ancient Thrace with more traditional literary sources • Integrates a study of Thrace within a broad context that includes the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean, southwest Asia, and southeast Europe/Eurasia • Reflects the impact of new theoretical approaches to economy, ethnicity, and cross-cultural interaction and hybridity in Ancient Thrace


          It is traditionally accepted that the withdrawal of the Persian from the Aegean opened a political vacuum which was filled by Thracian polities. The title basileus was struck for the first time on Edonian coins and those of Mosses after the Persians returned to Asia.

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