TARSOS in CILICIA 164BC Tyche Sandan Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i50376

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TARSOS in CILICIA 164BC Tyche Sandan Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i50376:
$30.00

Item: i50376

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city of Tarsos in Cilicia
Bronze 18mm (4.11 grams) Struck circa 164-27 B.C.
Reference: SNG France 1304 var. (monograms); SNG Levante 928-932 var. (same)
Turreted head of Tyche right.
Naked Sandan-Herakles standing right on horned lion right; holding hammer and flower; TAPΣEΩΝ before.

Hittite/Babylonian sun, storm, or warrior god, also perhaps associated with agriculture, who the Greeks equated with Herakles (Hercules) and who the Lydians believed their royal house descended from. Sardis (Sardes, Sardeis), the capital of Lydia, may have been named after Sandon. \"In honour of Sandan-Heracles there was celebrated every year in Tarsus a funeral pyre festival, at the climax of which the image of the god was burned. The dying of nature under the withering heat of the summer sun and its resurrection to new life was the content of this mystery, which at once suggests its kinship with the cults of the Syrian Adonis, the Phrygian Attis, the Egyptian Osiris, and the Babylonian Tammuz.\" The pyre of Sandan is featured on coins of Tarsus. Sandan is also associated on coinage with a lion.

The first city of Cilicia and capital of the native rulers down to circa 400 B.C., Tarsus was situated in the fertile Eastern plain on the river Kydnos, about 12 miles from the sea. In the 4th century, until the arrival of Alexander in 333 B.C., Tarsus was the chief mint of the Persian satraps. Eventually, in the 1st century B.C., it became the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia.

You are offerding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.

Tyche (Greek for luck; the Roman equivalent was Fortuna) was the presidingtutelary deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. Increasingly during the Hellenistic period, cities had their own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing amural crown (a crown like the walls of the city). The Greek historian Polybius believed that when no cause can be discovered to events such as floods, droughts, frosts or even in politics, then the cause of these events may be fairly attributed to Tyche.

Stylianos Spyridakis concisely expressed Tyche\'s appeal in a Hellenistic world of arbitrary violence and unmeaning reverses: \"In the turbulent years of the Epigoni of Alexander, an awareness of the instability of human affairs led people to believe that Tyche, the blind mistress of Fortune, governed mankind with an inconstancy which explained the vicissitudes of the time.\"

In literature, she might be given various genealogies, as a daughter ofHermes andAphrodite, or considered as one of theOceanids, daughters ofOceanus andTethys, or ofZeus. She was connected withNemesis andAgathos Daimon (\"good spirit\").

She was uniquely venerated atItanos in Crete, as Tyche Protogeneia, linked with the AthenianProtogeneia (\"firstborn\"), daughter ofErechtheus, whose self-sacrifice saved the city.

She had temples atCaesarea Maritima,Antioch,Alexandria andConstantinople. InAlexandria the Tychaeon, the temple of Tyche, was described byLibanius as one of the most magnificent of the entire Hellenistic world.

Tyche appears on manycoins of the Hellenistic period in the three centuries before the Christian era, especially from cities in the Aegean. Unpredictable turns of fortune drive the complicated plotlines ofHellenistic romances, such as Leucippe and Clitophon or Daphnis and Chloe. She experienced a resurgence in another era of uneasy change, the final days of publicly sanctionedPaganism, between the late-fourth-century emperorsJulian andTheodosius I who definitively closed the temples. The effectiveness of her capricious power even achieved respectability in philosophical circles during that generation, though among poets it was a commonplace to revile her for a fickle harlot.

In medieval art, she was depicted as carrying acornucopia, anemblematic ship\'s rudder, and thewheel of fortune, or she may stand on the wheel, presiding over the entire circle of fate.

The constellation ofVirgo is sometimes identified as the heavenly figure of Tyche, as well as other goddesses such asDemeter andAstraea.

Sandan was theAnatolian (Hittite) lion god during the Classical period. He used to be represented in association with a horned lion, and often resided inside a pyre surmounted by an eagle. Sandan was often associated to the Greek godHerakles. In ceremonies, an image of the god was placed inside a pyre and was set on fire.

Sandan appears in the coins of theSeleucids, as well as on other coins ofTarsus (Cilicia) during the time of the Roman emperors.

Tarsus (Greek: Ταρσός,Armenian: Տարսոն, Darson) is a historical city in south-central Turkey, 20km inland fromMediterranean Sea. It is part ofAdana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, fourth largestmetropolitan area inTurkey with a population of 2.75 million. Tarsus is an administrative district inMersin Province and lies in the core ofÇukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region.

With a history going back over 9,000 years Tarsus has long been an important stop for traders, a focal point of many civilisations including theAncient Romans when Tarsus was capital of the province ofCilicia, scene of the first meeting betweenMark Antony andCleopatra and birthplace ofSaint Paul.

//Geography

Located on the mouth of the Tarsus Çay (Cydnus), which empties into theMediterranean Sea, Tarsus is a junction point of land and sea routes connecting the Cilician plain (today calledÇukurova), central Anatolia and the Mediterranean sea. The climate is typical of theMediterranean region, summers very very hot, winters chilly and damp.

Tarsus has a long history of commerce and is still a commercial centre today, trading in the produce of the fertile Çukurova plain; also Tarsus is a thriving industrial centre refining and processing that produce same for export. Industries include agricultural machinery, spare parts, textiles, fruit-processing, brick building and ceramics.

Agriculture is an important source of income, half of the land area in the district is farmland (1,050km²) and most of the remainder is forest and orchard. The farmland is mostly well-irrigated, fertilised and managed with the latest equipment.

Etymology

The ancient name is Tarsos, (Greek:Ταρσός) possibly derived from a pagan god, Tarku; at other times the city was named Tarsisi; Antiochia on the Cydnus (Greek:Αντιόχεια του Κύδνου,Latin: Antiochia ad Cydnum); and Juliopolis. [Տարսոն, Darson inWestern Armenian and Tarson inEastern Armenian] . TheHittites referred to Tarsus as Tarsa.

Pegasus the winged horse was a mortal. Because of his faithful service to Zeus the Greek god, he was honored with a constellation. On the last day of pegasuses life, Zeus transformed him into a constellation, then a single feather fell to the earth near the city of Tarsus {Ταρσός} in Greek.

HistoryAntiquityFoundation and prehistory

Excavation of the mound of Gözlükule reveals that the prehistorical development of Tarsus reaches back to theNeolithic Period and continues unbroken throughChalcolithic andEarly Bronze Ages.

The settlement was located at the crossing of several important trade routes, linking Anatolia to Syria and beyond. Because the ruins are covered by the modern city, archaeology has barely touched the ancient city. The city may have been ofSemitic origin; it is mentioned as Tarsisi in the campaigns ofEsarhaddon, as well as several times in the records ofShalmaneser I andSennacherib. A Greek legend connects it with the memory ofSardanapalus (Ashurbanipal), still preserved in the Dunuk-Tach, called \'tomb of Sardanapalus\', a monument of unknown origin.Stephanus of Byzantium quotesAthenodorus of Tarsus as relating another legend:

“

Anchiale, daughter of Iapetus , founded Anchiale (a city near Tarsus): her son was Cydnus , who gave his name to the river at Tarsus: the son of Cydnus was Parthenius, from whom the city was called Parthenia: afterwards the name was changed to Tarsus.

”

Much of this legend of the foundation of Tarsus, however, appeared in the Roman era, and none of it is reliable. The geographerStrabo states that Tarsus was founded by people fromArgos who were exploring this coast. Another legend states that the winged horsePegasus was lost and landed here, hurting his foot, and thus the city was named tar-sos (the sole of the foot). Other candidates for legendary founder of the city include the heroPerseus andTriptolemus son of the earth-goddessDemeter, doubtless because the countryside around Tarsus is excellent farmland. Later the coinage of Tarsus bore the image ofHercules, due to yet another tale in which the hero was held prisoner here by the local god Sandon. Tarsus has been suggested as a possible identification of the biblicalTarshish, where the prophet Jonah wanted to flee, butTartessos in Spain is a more likely identification for this. (See further[2])

Early antiquity, Greece and Persia

In historical times, the city was first ruled by theHittites, followed by Assyria, and then thePersian Empire. Tarsus was the seat of a Persiansatrapy from 400 BC onward. Indeed,Xenophon records that in 401 BC, whenCyrus the Younger marched againstBabylon, the city was governed by KingSyennesis in the name of the Persian monarch.

Alexander the Great passed through with his armies in 333 BC and nearly met his death here after a bath in the Cydnus. By this time Tarsus was already largely influenced byGreek language and culture, and as part of theSeleucid Empire it became more and morehellenized. Strabo praises the cultural level of Tarsus in this period with its philosophers, poets and linguists. The schools of Tarsus rivaledAthens andAlexandria.2 Maccabees (4:30) records its revolt in about 171 BC againstAntiochus IV Epiphanes, who had renamed the town Antiochia on the Cydnus. In his time the library of Tarsus held 200,000 books, including a huge collection of scientific works. The name didn\'t last, however, due to the confusion of so many cities named Antioch.

Rome

Oscillum depicting a couple kissing. Terracotta figurine made in Tarsus, Roman Era

Pompey subjected Tarsus to Rome, and it became capital of the Roman province ofCilicia, the metropolis where the governor resided. In 66 BC, the inhabitants received Roman citizenship. To flatterJulius Caesar, for a time it took the name Juliopolis. It was also here thatCleopatra andMark Antony met and was the scene of the celebrated feasts they gave during the construction of their fleet (41 BC).

When the province of Cilicia was divided, Tarsus remained the civil and religious metropolis of Cilicia Prima, and was a grand city with palaces, marketplaces, roads and bridges, baths, fountains and waterworks, a gymnasium on the banks of theCydnus, and a stadium. Tarsus was later eclipsed by nearbyAdana, but remained important as a port and shipyard. Several Roman emperors were interred here:Marcus Claudius Tacitus,Maximinus, andJulian the Apostate, who planned to move his capital here from Antioch if he returned from his Persian expedition.[3]

Christianity

Tarsus was the birthplace ofSaint Paul (Acts 9:11; 21:39; 22:3), who returned here after his conversion (Acts 9:30). From here Barnabas retrieved him to help with the work in Syrian Antioch (Acts 11:25). Already by this time a Christian community probably existed, although the first recorded bishop,Helenus, dates only from the third century; Helenus visitedAntioch several times in connection with the dispute concerningPaul of Samosata. Laterbishops of Tarsus includedLupus, present at theCouncil of Ancyra in 314; Theodorus, at theCouncil of Nicaea in 325; Helladius, who was condemned at theCouncil of Ephesus and who appealed to the bishop of Rome in 433; above all the celebrated exegete Diodorus, teacher ofTheodore of Mopsuestia and consequently one of the fathers ofNestorianism. From the sixth century the metropolitan see of Tarsus had seven suffragan bishoprics; theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople archdiocese is again mentioned in the tenth century, and has existed down to the present day, part of thePatriarchate of Antioch.

Owing to the importance of Tarsus, many martyrs were put to death here, among them beingSaint Pelagia,Saint Boniface,Saint Marinus,Saint Diomedes,Saint Quiricus and Saint Julitta.

At about the end of the tenth century, the Armenians established a diocese of their rite, which still exists;Saint Nerses of Lambroun was its most distinguished representative in the twelfth century.

A cave in Tarsus is one of a number of places claiming to be the location of the legend of theSeven Sleepers, common to Christianity and Islam.

Islam and beyond

The Tarsus region was annexed by the Forces ofRashidun Caliphate under the command ofKhalid ibn Walid in 637. Tarsus was on the edge of the de facto border with the Byzantine empire in this period of theTaurus Mountains range separating theArmeniac andAnatolicthemes from Cilicia, Syria and northern Iraq. Tarsus was near the strategically importantCilician Gates which passed through the Taurus Mountains as well as access to the Mediterranean Sea which was used for both land and naval operations further in the Byzantine territory. While the region was lost by the ByzantineEmperor Heraclius in 637, it is unclear when the city was permanently occupied by the Arabs as sources indicate the city was garrisoned and retaken multiple times until the 9th century.

According to the Arabic geographerIbn Hawqal and the accounts of Arab historian Abu Amr Al-Tarsusi, Tarsus was a stronghold of Muslim forces with thousands of volunteers from across the Islamic world coming to fight in jihad against the Byzantine Empire. The city was a base of operations for the regular summer raids (ṣawāʿif) into Byzantine lands through the Cilician Gates when the mountain snows had melted and passage was possible. Later the city was used in defense of the frontier in response to a resurgent Byzantine empire in the mid-10th century. The city was lost in 965, whenNicephorus Phocas returned it to theByzantine Empire for nearly a century. The area was retaken by theSeljuk Turks, recaptured in 1097 during theCrusades and then disputed between Latins, Greeks, and Armenians of theArmenian Kingdom of Cilicia (Kingdom of Lesser Armenia); these last became definitively masters until about 1360, when it was captured by theRamazanoğlu Turks. Finally, the area was brought under the control of theOttomans by Selim I in 1517.

In the Middle Ages Tarsus was renowned throughout the Middle East; a number of Arab writers praised it as a beautiful and well-defended city, its walls being in two layers with five gates and earthworks outside, surrounded by rich farmland, watered by the river and the lake. By 1671 the travellerEvliya Çelebi records \"a city on the plain, an hour from the sea, surrounded by strong walls two-storeys high, moated on all sides, with three distinct neighbourhoods inside the walls\".

Despite its excellent defences, Tarsus was captured from the Ottomans in 1832 by theMamluks ofIbrahim Pasha of Egypt, son ofMuhammad Ali, and for 8 years remained in the hands of the Egyptians, who began growing cotton on the surrounding plain. Upon the return of the Ottomans this cotton drove a substantial growth in the economy of the area, due to increased world demand for the crop during shortages caused by theU.S. Civil War. A new road was built to the port inMersin and the city of Tarsus grew and thrived. Still today many large houses in the city stand as reminders of the wealth generated during this period. However after being a port for 3,000 years, by the end of the 19th century neglect resulted in Tarsus no longer having access to the sea, and the delta became a swamp. At this point Tarsus was a typical Ottoman city with communities of Muslim Turks, Christian Greeks and Armenians. At the founding of theTurkish Republic in the 1920s the swamp was drained and the River Berdan was dammed to build Turkey\'s first hydro-electric power station. Irrigation, roadworks and a railway brought the economy of Tarsus back to life, with new factories, particularly producing textiles.

Life in Tarsus today

Tarsus has slightly more in the way of culture (cinema, theatre, museums) than most Turkish country towns, but in many ways still has a small town feel; people walk in the road rather than on the pavements. Predictably, the people of the mountain forests in the hinterland have an even quieter rural existence.

The local cuisine includes:hummus;şalgam (pickled turnips);tantuni (a sandwich of grilled meats; the tiny pizzas called \"fındık lahmacun\"; andcezerye (a confection made out of carrots).

Places of interest

Tarsus has a great many ancient sites of interest, with many in need of restoration and research. The best known include:

Church of St. Paul in Tarsus, (the church and the surroundings are on the UN World Heritage tentative list

Cleopatra Gate - to the west of the city, the only ancient city gate still standing, where Anthony and Cleopatra entered the city in 41 BC, though the \"restoration\" of this structure has involved covering much of it over with shiny new stone (see [2] for a picture of the gate before the work was done).
The Roman bridge of Justinian over the Berdan River. Still in good condition.
Tarsus Museum - contains lots of ancient coins and a severed mummified arm.

Sites of religious interest and pilgrimage:

The church and well of St Paul.
The tomb of the Seven Sleepers , busy place of pilgrimage for Muslims today.
The mosque said to be the burial place of the Prophet Daniel .

From the Turkish era:

The old baths; the dark brown spots on the white marble walls are said to be the bloodstains of Shah Meran , the legendary Snake King who was killed in an ambush in the baths.
Tarsus American College ; founded in the Ottoman period, still active today.
\"Nusret (Nusrat)\" the minelayer used to defend the straits before the Battle of Gallipoli is being restored in Tarsus; it is to be part of a memorial park to those lost in the fighting.

Places of natural beauty include:

Tarsus Waterfall; since the construction of the Berdan dam the water of the Tarsus river has been distributed in canals for irrigation, with the result that the waterfall can now be seen only in seasons of very heavy rainfall.

Notable residentss

Antipater , Stoic philosopher
Caliph Al-Ma\'mun died near Tarsus
Journalist Oral Çalışlar was born in Tarsus.
Chrysippus , Stoic philosopher
Cleopatra
Lokman the Physician
Mark Antony
Saint Nerses of Lambron , Archbishop of Tarsus in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
Paul the Apostle (Saul of Tarsus), Christian apostle, missionary, martyr, and saint, was born here and returned for a brief period later in life.
Saint Theodore of Tarsus , Archbishop of Canterbury .
Tarsus is one of a number of cities that claims to be the burial place of Bilal ibn Rabah , first muezzin , or caller to prayer, in Islam.
Tarsus Idman Yurdu is the local football team.

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