EPESUS Ephesos IONIA 405BC Bee Stag's Head Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i48237

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EPESUS Ephesos IONIA 405BC Bee Stag's Head Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i48237:
$160.00

Item: i48237

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city ofEphesus (Ephesos) inIonia
Bronze 7mm (0.62 grams) Struck 405-390 B.C.
Reference: SNG Kayhan 147-88; SNG München 34
Bee within circle.
Head of stag right, E - Φ across fields.

Situated at the mouth of the river Kayster, Ephesos was founded by Ionian colonists under Androklos. It rose to be a place of great importance in Classical and Hellenistic times, due in the main to the illustrious sanctuary of the Ephesian Artemis dating from the time of Kroisos of Lydia. After the end of the Pergamene Kingdom in 133 B.C. Ephesos passed under the rule of the Romans.

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Ephesus (Ancient Greek Ἔφεσος,Turkish Efes) was an ancient Greek city on the west coast ofAnatolia, near present-day Selçuk,Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of theIonian League during theClassical Greek era. In the Roman period, it was for many years the second largest city of theRoman Empire; ranking behindRome, the empire's capital. Ephesus had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC, which also made it the second largest city in the world.

The city was famed for theTemple of Artemis (completed around 550 BCE), one of theSeven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Temple was destroyed in 401 CE by a mob led by St.John Chrysostom. EmperorConstantine I rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths. The town was again partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614. The city's importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor was slowly silted up by the Cayster River (Küçük Menderes).

Ephesus was one of theseven churches of Asia that are cited in theBook of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written here. It is also the site of a largegladiators' graveyard.

Today's archaeological site lies 3 kilometers southwest of the town of Selçuk, in the Selçuk district ofİzmir Province, Turkey. The ruins of Ephesus are a favorite international and local tourist attraction, partly owing to their easy access fromAdnan Menderes Airport and via the port ofKuşadası.

//HistoryNeolithic age

The area surrounding Ephesus was already inhabited during the Neolithic Age (about 6000 BCE), as was revealed by the excavations at the nearbyhoyuk (artificial mounds known astells) of Arvalya and Cukurici..Bronze age

Excavations in recent years have unearthed settlements from the early Bronze Age at the Ayasuluk Hill. In 1954 a burial ground from theMycenaean era (1500-1400 BCE) with ceramic pots was discovered close to the ruins of the basilica of St. John.[8] This was the period of the Mycenaean Expansion when theAchaioi (as they were called byHomer) settled inAhhiyawa during the 14th and 13th centuries BCE. Scholars believe that Ephesus was founded on the settlement of Apasa (or Abasa), aBronze Age-city noted in 14th-century BCEHittite sources as in the land ofAhhiyawa. [9]

Dark age

Site of the Temple of Artemis in the town of Selçuk , near Ephesus.

The city of Ephesus itself was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BCE on the Ayasuluk Hill, three kilometers from the center of antique Ephesus (as attested by excavations at theSeljuk castle during the 1990s). The mythical founder of the city was a prince ofAthens namedAndroklos, who had to leave his country after the death of his father, King Kadros. According to legend, he founded Ephesus on the place where the oracle ofDelphi became reality ("A fish and a boar will show you the way"). Androklos drove away most of the native Carian and Lelegian inhabitants of the city and united his people with the remainder. He was a successful warrior and, as king, he was able to join the twelve cities ofIonia together into theIonian League. During his reign the city began to prosper. He died in a battle against the Carians when he came to the aid ofPriene, another city of the Ionian League.[10] Androklos and his dog are depicted on the Hadrian temple frieze, dating from the second century. Later, Greek historians such asPausanias, Strabo and the poet Kallinos, and the historianHerodotos however reassigned the city's mythological foundation to Ephos, queen of the Amazons.

The Greek goddessArtemis and the great Anatolian goddessKybele were identified together as Artemis of Ephesus. The many-breasted "Lady of Ephesus", identified withArtemis, was venerated in theTemple of Artemis, one of theSeven Wonders of the World and the largest building of the ancient world according toPausanias (4.31.8). Pausanius mentions that the temple was built by Ephesus, son of the river godCaystrus.[11] before the arrival of the Ionians. Of this structure, scarcely a trace remains.

Archaic period

About 650 BCE, Ephesus was attacked by theCimmerians, who razed the city, including the temple of Artemis. A few small Cimmerian artifacts can be seen at the archaeological museum of Ephesus.

When the Cimmerians had been driven away, the city was ruled by a series of tyrants. After a revolt by the people, Ephesus was ruled by a council called the Kuretes. The city prospered again, producing a number of important historical figures, such as theiambic poetsCallinus[12] and the satiristHipponax, the philosopherHeraclitus, the great painterParrhasius and later the grammarianZenodotos, the physiciansSoranus and Rufus.

About 560 BCE Ephesus was conquered by theLydians under the mighty king Croesus. He treated the inhabitants with respect, despite ruling harshly, and even became the main contributor to the reconstruction of the temple of Artemis.[13] His signature has been found on the base of one of the columns of the temple (now on display in theBritish Museum). Croesus made the populations of the different settlements around Ephesus regroup (synoikismos) in the vicinity of the Temple of Artemis, enlarging the city.

Later in the same century, the Lydians under Croesus invaded Persia. The Ionians refused a peace offer fromCyrus the Great, siding with the Lydians instead. After the Persians defeated Croesus the Ionians offered to make peace but Cyrus insisted that they surrender and become part of the empire. They were defeated by the Persian army commanderHarpagos in 547 BCE. The Persians then incorporated the Greek cities of Asia Minor into theAchaemenid Empire. Those cities were then ruled bysatraps.

Ephesus has intrigued archaeologists for the main reason that for the Archaic Period, there is no definite location for the settlement. There are numerous sites to suggest the movement of a settlement between the Bronze Age and the Roman period but the silting up of the natural harbors as well as the movement of the Kayster River meant that the location never remainded the same.

Classical period

Ephesus continued to prosper. But when taxes continued to be raised underCambyses II andDarius, the Ephesians participated in theIonian Revolt against Persian rule in theBattle of Ephesus (498 BCE), an event which instigated theGreco-Persian wars. In 479 BCE, the Ionians, together withAthens andSparta, were able to oust the Persians from Anatolia. In 478 BCE, the Ionian cities entered with Athens and Sparta into theDelian League against the Persians. Ephesus did not contribute ships but gave financial support by offering the treasure ofApollo to the goddess Athena, protectress of Athens.

During thePeloponnesian War, Ephesus was first allied to Athens[ neededcitation] but sided in a later phase, called the Decelean War, or the Ionian War, with Sparta, which also had received the support of the Persians. As a result, rule over the kingdoms of Anatolia was ceded again to Persia.

These wars did not much affect daily life in Ephesus. The Ephesians were surprisingly modern in their social relations. They allowed strangers to integrate. Education was much valued. Through the cult of Artemis, the city also became a bastion of women's rights. Ephesus even had its female artists. In later times,Pliny the Elder mentioned having seen at Ephesus a representation of the goddessDiana by Timarata, the daughter of a painter.

In 356 BCE the temple of Artemis was burned down, according to legend, by a lunatic called Herostratus. By coincidence, this was the night thatAlexander the Great was born. The inhabitants of Ephesus at once set about restoring the temple and even planned a larger and grander one than the original.

Hellenistic period

Historical map of Ephesus, from Meyers Konversationslexikon , 1888

WhenAlexander the Great defeated the Persian forces at theBattle of Granicus in 334 BCE, the Greek cities of Asia Minor were liberated. The pro-Persian tyrant Syrpax and his family were stoned to death, and Alexander was greeted warmly when he entered Ephesus in triumph. When Alexander saw that the temple of Artemis was not yet finished, he proposed to finance it and have his name inscribed on the front. But the inhabitants of Ephesus demurred, claiming that it was not fitting for one god to build a temple to another. After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, Ephesus in 290 BCE came under the rule of one of Alexander's generals,Lysimachus.

As the riverCayster silted up the harbor, the resulting marshes caused malaria and many deaths among the inhabitants. The people of Ephesus were forced to move to a new settlement two kilometers further on, when the king flooded the old city by blocking the sewers. This settlement was called after the king's second wife,Arsinoe II of Egypt. AfterLysimachus had destroyed the nearby cities ofLebedos and Colophon in 292 BCE, he relocated their inhabitants to the new city. The architectural layout of the city would remain unchanged for the next 500 years.

Ephesus revolted after the treacherous death ofAgathocles, giving the Syrian kingSeleucus I Nicator an opportunity for removing and killing Lysimachus, his last rival, at theBattle of Corupedium in 281 BCE. After the death of Lysimachos the town took again the name of Ephesus.

Thus Ephese became part of theSeleucid Empire. After the murder of kingAntiochus II Theos and his Egyptian wife, pharaohPtolemy III invaded the Seleucid Empire and the Egyptian fleet swept the coast of Asia Minor. Ephesus came under Egyptian rule between 263-197 BCE.

When the Seleucid kingAntiochus III the Great tried to regain the Greek cities of Asia Minor, he came in conflict with Rome. After a series of battles, he was defeated byScipio Asiaticus at theBattle of Magnesia in 190 BCE. As a result, Ephesus came under the rule of the Attalid king ofPergamonEumenes II (197-133 BCE). When his grandsonAttalus III died without male children of his own, he left his kingdom to theRoman Republic.

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