Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/06/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Breathtaking!! On 6/15/15 5:52 PM, "John D. Nebel" <john.nebel at csdco.com> wrote: > Abdera tetradrachm 390-360 BC <http://photos.csd.net/abdera.html> Herodotus > I, 168: "for as soon as Harpagos took their wall with a mound, they embarked > in their ships and sailed straightway for Thrace; and there they founded the > city of Abdera" The badge of the polis of Abdera is the griffin, a beast > which combines the characteristics of the strongest land animal with the > strongest creature of the air. It has the body, rear paws, and tail of a > lion, the wings and head of an eagle, and forefeet with talons rather than > claws. Abdera was settled by refugees from Teos desiring freedom after the > Persians had invaded and conquered their polis. Teos's coinage had a griffin > on the obverse, and Abdera wished to show its relationship with its mother > city by sporting a similar badge, simultaneously distinguishing the coinages > as its griffin faces left, while Teos's faces right. Abdera's mythical > founder was Herakles who named the city after his fallen friend Abderus, the > coin reflects this founding by depicting Herakles on the reverse. He has his > club resting on his knee and is using his cloak, the skin of the Nemean lion > to cover the rock on which he sits. The coin's inscriptions are ????, Abdera, > and ??? ???????, the magistrate upon the time, Philados. Why Teos used a > griffin as it's badge is speculative, and one reference refers back to > Abdera, which is circular. However, from coinage, it's clear that Teos had a > source of gold, since early on they made coins of electrum, a man-made > mixture of gold and silver. In myth, griffins are the guardians of gold, and > perhaps that is the reason for the choice, a guard for their gold mines. One > speculation is that a very long ago miners looking for gold uncovered a > triceratops skeleton, and hence when it was imaginarily fleshed out it became > the guardian of gold as the > griffin. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceratops> _______________________ > ________________________ Leica Users Group. See > http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information -- Mark William Rabiner Photographer http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/