PEPARETHUS AND ITS COINAGE.

[PLATE IV.]

THE Plate which illustrates this article represents a series of silver

coins, Nos. 1-8, which bear a strong family likeness. They are all tetra-
drachms of the Euboic standard, and each displays on the obverse a peculiar
bunch of grapes which would have excited even the infantine ridicule of the
humblest painter of Dutch fruit-pieces. Two of these coins, P1. IV. 2 and 8,
both recent acquisitions of the British IVMuseum, are unpublished, and present
new types. Nos. 9-11 are bronze coins of Peparethus.
In type and style the most remarkable of these coins is PI. IV. 1
A. This piece was found in the island of Cos, but Mr. Barclay Head, -
Fig.
who first made it known ill 1891,1 attributed it in a very ingenious and learned
paper to Cyrene. This attribution carried with it the assignment to Cyrene of
the types here figured as PI. IV. 3 (and 5), 4 (and 6), because all three
types were found to be united together by a concatenation of dies. In a
paper printed in the Numismatic Chronicle,2shortly after Mr. Head's, I ven-
tured to point out-without suggesting any better attribution-that the great
difficulty in this classification was that all the known coins of the African
city bore as their type the silphium-plant, or, at least, a leaf or seed
representative of that plant: it seemed difficult to fit into the Cyrenian
currency a bunch of grapes, a winged figure, a helmet and a head of
Herakles. A distinguished numismatist, M. Waddington, to whom at the
time, I mentioned the proposed attribution, told me that he thought, in
spite of Mr. Head's excellent article, these grape-coins would turn out to be
Euboean or Macedonian.
Writing in this Journal in 1897 Mr. Hill suggested the Macedonian
Chalcidice as the probable home of the coins. About 1904, a specimen with
the helmet reverse was procured by its owner near Salonica. Subsequently
Mr. A. J. B. Wace obtained in Scopelos, i.e. the ancient Peparethus, the
island lying beyond the coast of Thessalian Magnesia, specimens of the
helmet and Herakles reverses; and in 1906 another specimen of the
Herakles was shown at the British Museum by its owner, who stated that
it was found in the same island.
2
rNum. Chron. 1891, p. 1. 1892, p. 20.
 PEPARETHUS AND ITS COINAGE. 9T

Finally, in 1906, the British Museum acquired the coin P1. IV. 2 =
Fig. C. This coin bears the letters PE already seen on the bronze coins of
Peparethus, displays like them Dionysiac types, and was found in Scopelos.
Its attribution to Peparethus is, thus, hardly open to doubt, and the coin has
numismatic importance as showing that this island coined silver, as well as
bronze money, and that its coinage began somewhat early in the fifth century.
Unfortunately this inscribed coin cannot be held to prove that the grape-
coins previously referred to belong to Peparethus, for the bunch of grapes on
its obverse is not identical with the bunches on the other coins. It seems,.
however, to strengthen their attribution to this island, an attribution first
suggested by the provenance of some of the specimens. In this paper I shall
therefore venture to adopt as a probable hypothesis the Peparethian origin of
all the grape-coins, except, perhaps, in the case of the coin Pl. IV. 8.3
The island which chose the bunch of grapes as its principal badge,
though less famous than Naxos or Thera, was in legend declared to have been
colonized by Cretans under an appropriately named leader, Staphylos, the
son of Dionysos and Ariadne. Dionysos was its principal divinity, and
Staphylos is still the name of a bay of the island.4 It is first mentioned in
the Homeric Hymn to Apollo. In antiquity it was well wooded; it grew
corn and olives and exported a well-known wine.5 At the present day it
sends a light, red wine of its production to Constantinople and the Black
Sea ports. There were three towns in the island, namely, Peparethus, the
most important place, now called, like the whole island, Scopelos; Selinus,
and a harbour-town, Panormus.
Coming niow to the more precise attribution of our coins, it is probably
not rash to assume that the chief minting-place was the town Peparethus.
We may assign to it the inscribed coin with the seated Dionysos, No. V."
(PI. IV. 2) and the bronze coins, P1. IV. 9-11. One would suppose also that
the coin, P1. IV. 1, with a fine figure-subject (Fig. A) was likewise issued from
the same mint. But to what mint are we to assign the Herakles-head, the
helmet and the ivy-wreath, each of which has a bunch of grapes as its
obverse ? There seems some difficulty in assigning so many reverse-types to
the same town during a period (apparently) of about forty or fifty years; and

"
Peparethus is not the only provenance
recorded for these coins. They have been
found in Cos, in Macedonia (Salonica), and in
Thessaly. Cos may safely be ruled out as the
mint-place of these coins, for they in no way
amalgamate with the already well-known series
of Coan money. Some coast-town of Thessaly,
or, better, of Macedonia would have a fair
claim to the coins, if the attribution to
Peparethus is unacceptable. The helmet-
reverse is rather distinctively Macedonian
and the winged figure (Fig. A) has been
compared (by Mr. Hill, J.H.S. 1897, p. 79)
with the winged figure with a wreath oni a
Macedonian (?) coin.
SOn Peparethus, see Bursian, Gcographie
von' Griechenland, ii. pp. 386 f.; C. Fredrich,
'Skiathos und Peparethos' in Mlittheil. arch.
Inst. (Athens) xxxi. (1906) p. 99 f. and refer-
ences there; cp. Wace, ib. p. 129 f. 'Skiathos
und Skopelos'; Murray's Handbook for Grccce,
pp. 931 f.
5 On the wine, Demosth. In Lacrit. p. 935;
Soph. Philoct. 548 ; Heracl. Poit. Fragm. 13 ;
Athen. i. p. 29 a and f; Pliny, H.N. xiv.
7. 76.
6 The Roman numerals refer to the descrip-
tive list of the coins given at the end of this
artic!e.
92 WARWICK WROTH

I at first thought that the Herakles and helmet types-specimens of which

were ascertained by Mr. Wace to have been found on the site of Selinus-
might be attributed to that town. This provenance, hlowever, in a small
island, is not decisive as to origin, and bearing in mind the way in which
this series of coins is linked together by the interchange of (tlies,I think tlhe
safest course is to suppose that they were all struck at a single mint-place,
namely the town Peparetlhus.
The only exception may be the coin No. VI. (P1. IV. 8). It has a
specially marine character. On the obverse, four dolphins are added to the
simple bunch of grapes, and the reverse is a dolphin-rider. These types
might suit the harbour-town Panormus. but, on the other hand, this coin-at
present unique-is stated to have been found in Thessaly, at Demetrias, near
Volo, and the addition of the dolphins to the bunch of grapes, which seems
to be the badge of Peparethus, rather suggests that the coin does not belong
to this island but to an adjacent island or, perhaps, to some coast-town of
Magnesia, where Dionysiac types are already known from the coins.
Date and types.-I have already mentioned that several coins in our
series show a curious concatenation of dies. The importance of systematically
studying the identities of dies has lately become more widely recognized:
Dr. Regling, for instance, in his recent admirable monograph on the coinage
of Terina has carefully noted the relationship of the various dies, and gained
thereby good clues to the exact chronological sequence of the coins. In the
present case, it will be found that the die for the grapes-obverse of the
winged figure coin (No. I.) has been used for the obverse of a Herakles coin
(No. II. A). Again, the grapes-die found in conjunction with the Herakles
coin, II. D is used as the obverse of III. (the helmet type), and also for the
obverse of IV. (the ivy-wreath type). The relation of the dies may be set
forth as follows, identical letters indicating identical dies:-
No. I. (Winged figure) Obv.a, Rev. A.
,, II. A. (Herakles) ,, a, ,, B.
,, II. D. (Herakles) ,, f, ,, B.

,, III. (Helmet) ,, f, ,, c.
IV. (Ivy-wreatll) ,, P, ,, D.
,
This examination of the dies suggests that Nos. I. and II. A are nearly of
the same date. In the Herakles-series, II. D is later (but not much later)
than II. A. The helmet-type III. and the ivy-wreath type IV. are both
contemporary, or nearly contemporary, with the Herakles-type II. D.
No. V. (seated Dionysos) and No. VI. (dolphin-rider) do not share in
this interchange of dies.
No. I. (P1. IV. 1 = Fig. A). Mr. Hill has well suggested the name of
Agon-a male personification corresponding to Nike-for the reverse type.
This little running figure is executed with all the minuteness of gem-

7 J.iH.S. 1897, p. 80.

 PEP~ARETHUS AND ITS COINAGE. 93

engraving, but is full of elastic vigour. In some respects it recalls the

Poseidon of the coins of Poseidonia8 and has some affinities with the Nike of
of Elis 9 and the running Nike of Cyzicus.1o All these are early coins, and I
think our Agon can hardly be later than ci~rc.B.c. 500-490. The type is,
apparently, not Dionysiac, and it is hard to suggest the reason of its choice.
No. II. (P1. IV. 3 and 5; Fig. B). The Herakles head has an aspect
unusual on coins. It is delicately treated but has the bulging eyes and
simpering smile found in representations of Herakles on early vases and other
monuments. It may be compared in style with the Dionysos head on an
archaic coin of Sicilian Naxos.u1 This type (in its earliest manifestation,
P1. IV. 3) must be placed soon after the Agon coin (No. I.), of which it has
borrowed the obverse-die. Perhaps the date is circ. B.c. 490. The variety of
this coin (P1. IV. 5), where the obverse-die is changed so as to present three
bunches of grapes, must be somewhat later, B.c. 490-485 (?).
No. III. (P1. IV. 4 and 6) introduces a new reverse-the helmet, but
the obverse die is borrowed from No. II. D (Herakles). We may date it,
approximately, B.c. 485-480. The significance of the helmet is not obvious:
it is a type that is chiefly familiar on Macedonian coins.'"
No. IV. (P1. IV. 7). The reverse does not, so far as I know, find a
parallel in any other coin-type. We might be content to explain it as a
mere Dionysiac emblem, but it may perhaps be preferably described as a
votive wreath. We know from Athenaeus 13that the Peparethians dedicated
at Delphi a golden XpvIror iCL7TToIUE7apleOiO. The
ivy-wreath-o-r-avov
date of this dedication is not known: in the same sentence some other
Delphian dedications are recorded including a laurel-wreath of the Ephesians
and four golden offered by the people of Sybaris. If we could
o-re/X•yLta
assume that all these anathemata were made on the same occasion, the date
of the offering could be approximately fixed as not later than B.c. 510, the
date of the destruction of Sybaris. This ivy-leaf reverse is joined with an
obverse-die borrowed from the helmet-coin (No. III.) so that it must be
nearly contemporary; circ. B.c. 480 (?).
No. V. (Pl. IV. 2; Fig. C). Seated figures are rare on archaic coins and
even until the age of Alexander the Great: notable instances are the seated
Zeus of Aetna,1'4circ. B.C.476-461 and the Harmonia (?) seated on a diphros
on a coin of Thebes, circ. B.c. 446.15 Our seated Dionysos shows the heavy
treatment of the figure found on archaic sculptured reliefs of a similar

8 Head, Guide to Coint of Ancients, P1. VII. II. 7.

12.
SP. Gardner, Types, PI. III. 14.
10 Wroth, B. M. Cat. lMysia, P1. IV. 7
and 9.
•1 Hill, Coins of anc. Sicily, P1. I. 3. Cp.
also the head of a warrior on a Lycian coin,
B.c. 500-460 in Hill, B. MI. Cat. Lycia, PI.
12 Svoronos, Journ. internct. d'arch. NTum.
1905, p. 341.
13
Theopompus ap. Athen. xiii. 605 n, c.,
quoted by Rouse, Greek votive qcferings, p. 281.
14
Hill, Coins of anc. Sicily, P1. IV. 13.
15 Head, Guide to Coins of Ancicnt., P1.
XIII. 15 and B. M. Cat. Central Greece, p. 72.
94 WARWICK WROTHI

character, and might, independently of its obverse, be placed very early in

the fifth century. It is accompanied however, by an obverse which is plainly
later than any of those previously described, for on this obverse the bunch of
grapes is less crudely represented and an inscription (PE) makes its
appearance. I would therefore dlate the coin circ. B.c. 480-470.

The coin No. VI. (P1. IV. 8) as I have already remarked is probably
not of Peparethus. The four dolphins encircling the bunch of grapes were
presumably suggested by the coins of Sicily, on which they appear first, at
Syracuse, in the time of Gelon, i.e. circ. B.c. 485.16 The dolphin-rider on
the reverse is not satisfactorily preserved, but I am inclined to think that
it is a female figure wearing a long chiton like Europa on her bull on the
metope of Selinus or on the early coins of Cnossus: a male dolphin-rider is
already known from an early coin (sixth or seventh century ?) attributed by
Svoronos to the island of Syros.17 The date of our coin may be provisionally
fixed as circ. B.C. 480.

Between circ. B.c. 470 and 400 there is a broad gap in the coinage of
Peparethus. During this period the island was no doubt subordinate to
Athens.1s The bronze coin IX figured Pl. IV. 9 may be placed circ. B.c. 400.
It displays a bearded head of Dionysos of good style. No. X. (P1. IV. 10)
shows a beardless Dionysos, perhaps of the third century.
No native coinage can be assigned to the island during the fourth
century. In B.c. 377 the Peparethians are named among the allies of the
Athenian Confederacy. In B.C.361 the town of Peparethus was besieged by
Alexander tyrant of Pherae and it is interesting to know that two of his silver
coins have been discovered in Scopelos.9 The island was afterwardslaid waste
by command of Philip II. of Macedon because the Peparethians had seized
the island of Ilalonesus. At the end of the third century (B.C.209-200) the
town was contended for by Philip V. of Macedon, by Attalus of Pergamum,
and by the Romans. The coin (P1. IV. 11) doubtless belongs to the second
or first century B.C. The worship of Athena, whose head appears on it, is
known from other sources to have prevailed at the towns of Peparethus and
Selinu s.
In conclusion, I set forth the details that will be looked for by
numismatic readers, some of whom may be able to carry farther than I have
done the dating and attribution of this interesting but rather difficult series
of coins.

'6 A single dolphin was the badge of Ceos British Museum in M1arch 1906. A note of
and on the coins it accompanies the distinctive these was made by Mr. Hill, as follows:-
types of the various towns of the island. 1. Obv. Head of Hecate r. hair rolled; in front,
17 Journ. internat. dc'arch. num. 1900, p. 59; arm holding torch. Rev. AAEEANA Lion's
cp. Head, B. M. Cat. Cari, p. lix. head r.; below, double-axe, Size Wt.
"7.
s18See I.G. I. Index of Athenian Tributary 87-2 grains (similar to B. M..RCat. Thessaly,
Allies. P1. X. 12). 2. Obv. Wheel. Rev. A AE double-
19 Two coins (dans le comnmerce)shown at the axe. JR Size "4. Wt. 12'6 grains.
 PEPARETHUS AND ITS COINAGE. 95

I.- Winged Figu'e Type.

Obv. Bunch of grapes. Border of dots.

Rev. Winged male figure (Agon ?), naked, running r.; wears boots with
tags; in each hand, wreath. Square compartment of dots. Whole in
incuse square.
Ar Size 1"05. Wt. 261 grains. P1. IV. 1 and Fig. A. In BRITISH
MUSEUM,acquired in 1891 (B. V. Head, Numn.Chrorn.1891, p. 1; P1. I.

i-?:iaii-ii-i-i
::i::u~

:::::_::-_:::

::I:i:
~~i~~ ..:::~I~-_-9

IL:.-

?~,~s_~

FIG. A. (Scale 2:1.) FIG. B. (Scale 2 : 1.)

3 'Cyrene'; Wroth, Num. Chron. 1892, p. 19; Hill, J.ILS. 1807, p. 79,
'Chalcidice' ?). Found in Cos together with Nos. II. B and III. B, an
archaic tetradrachm of Athens, and an archaic tetradrachm of Mende.
Obverse from same die as No. II. A and II. B and II. C.

II.-Herakles Type.
Obv. Bunch of grapes. Border of dots.
Rev. Head of bearded Herakles 1. in lion's skin. Square compartment of
dots. Whole in incuse square.
A. In SIR H. WEBER'S COLL., LONDON. At Size Wt. grains.
P1. IV. 3 and Fig. B. Procured from Greece. '95.
Obv. from 265'5
same die as
No. I.

B. In Museum of Fine Arts, BOSTON(originally in the Greenwell Coll.).

/R Size '9. '\Wt. 264"3 grains.' (B. V. Head, Num. Chron. 1891, p. 1,
No. ii. P1. I. 4 = Regling, Sammlung Warren, No. 1410; P1. 32,
Fig. 1410. The wt. is there stated to be grammes.) Found in
Cos with No. I. 16"76
Obv.from same die as No. I. (Obv.and rev. same dies as II. A.)
96 WARWICK WROTH

C. In A PRIVATECOLLECTION. A~ Size 95. Wt.

17"15grammes. (Svoronos,
Journal internat. d'arch. num. 1905, p. 339, No. 4; P1. XI. 22.) Found
on the site of Selinus in Peparethus and obtained in the island by Mr.
A. J. B. Wace; the statement, Svoronos, 1.c.p. 340, that this coin (and
III. A. infra) were found in Skiathos, is based on a misapprehension.
(Information from Mr. Wace.)
Obv.from same die as No. I. Obv. (and rev. ?) same dies as II. A
and II. B.

The obv. of II. D and E next to be described differs from the obv.
of II. A, B, C, in having a small bunch of grapes on each side of the
large bunch.
D. In BRITISHMUSEUM,acquired in 1872 from Edward Wigan's collection.
AR Size 1. Wt. 256 grains. P1. IV. 5. (Head, Nurm.Chron.1891, p. 1,
No. iii. P1. I. 5.) Provenanceunknown.
Rev. from same die as II. A and II. B.
E. D)ans le commerce, 1906. A& Euboic tetradrachm. Found in Scopelos
(Peparethus).
Obv. and rev. from same dies as II. D.

III.-Helmet Type.
Obv. Bunch of grapes, flanked by two smaller bunches. Border of dots.
Rev. Crested Corinthian helmet r. within incuse square.
A. In A PRIVATE COLLECTION. AR tetradrachm. Wt.
16"75 grammes.
(Svoronos, 1.c.p. 339, No. 1, Pl. XI. 19.) PI. IV. 4. Found on the site
of Selinus in Pepacrethus,and obtained in the island by Mr. A. J. B.
Wace. (Information from Mr. Wace.)
Obv.from same die as No. II. D.
B. In BRITISH MUSEUM, acquired 1891. iR Size Wt.
1"05. 253"4.
(Head, Num. Chron, 1891, p. 2, No. iv. P1. I. 6; wt. stated as
in Cos with No. I. etc.
261"3 grains.) PI. IV. 6. Found
Obv. and rev. from same dies as No. III. A.
C. In A PRIVATE COLLECTION ? A tetradrachm. Wt.
16"50 grammes.
~Found,by a native of Thessaly, r-ph v•6'ov '70o 'OXvpr-ov. (Svoronos, I c.
p. 339, No. 2; P1. xi. 20.)
Obv.and rev. from same dies as No. III. A.
ID. Daas le commerce. At tetradrachm, shown at the British Museum in
1904. Obtainednear Salonica.

IV.--vy-wreath Type.
Obv. Bunch of grapes flanked by two smaller bunches. Border of dots.
(Flaw in die, on r.)
 PEPARETHUS AND ITS COINAGE. 97

Rev. Ornamental device consisting of a pellet surrounded by dots and four

ivy-leaves arranged diagonally. (Votive ivy-wreath?) Square compart-
ment of dots. Whole in incuse square.
In A PRIVATE COLLECTION. AI tetradrachm. Wt. grammes.
17"68
Found by a native of Thessaly, vzrov 'roi (Svoronos, 1.e.
-rp? 'Ok•-rrov.
p. 339, No. 3; P1. XI. 21.) P1. IV. 7. (Casts of this and of No, III. A
have been kindly supplied by M. Svoronos.)
Obv.from the same dies as Nos. II. D, E.

V.-Seatcd Dionysos Type.

Obv. Bunch of grapes, with slight indications of smaller bunch at each
side. On 1., PE (the E repeated through double-striking). Border of
dots.
Reev. Dionysos with long beard and long hair, seated 1. on diphros; himation
over lower limbs; in outstretched r., kantharos; 1. hand, resting on side,

:::
:-:,::::
~ijiiii

?-I

FIG. C. (Scale 2 : 1.)

holds thyrsos. Square compartment of dots. Whole in incuse square.

1E plated with silver. Size Wt. grains. P1. IV. 2 and
C. In BRITISH 1"05.
MUSEUM, purchased220"3
in 1906.
Fig.
Found in Scopelos(Peparethus).

VI.-Dolphin-rider Type.

Obv, Bunch of grapes, around which four dolphins swimming.

Rev. Figure riding 1. on dolphin (apparently a female figure wearing long
chiton girt at waist); the type within an incuse square to which it is
adjusted diagonally.
In BRITISH MUSEUM,purchased (together with No. V.) 1906.
AR Size Wt. 259 grains. P1. IV. 8. Found at Demetrias in
1"2.
Thessaly.
H.S. VOL. XXVII. H
98 PEPARETHUS AND ITS COINAGE.

Vt1I.-IX.--Bronze Coijs of Peparethus.

VII. Obv. Head of bearded Dionysos r., wreathed with ivy.

Rev. P E Kantharos; wreathed with vine-leaf and two bunches of
grapes; circular incuse.
BRITISH MUSEUM, acquired in 1906. JE Size 55. Found
in Scopelos. PI. IV. 9.
VIII. Obv. Head of beardless Dionysos r., wreathed with ivy.
Rev. P E Kantharos.
BRITISH MUSEUM, acquired in 1891. JE Size 45..
Obtained in Greece? P1. IV. 10.
IX. Obv. Head of Athena r. in helmet.
Rev. F' E Bunch of grapes.
n A
BRITISH MUSEUM, acquired in 1891. JE Size "55.
Obtained in Greece? P1. IV. 1 1.
(For other bronze coins of Peparethus, see Gardner, B.M.
Cat. Thessaly, etc. s.v. Peparethus; Macdonald, Hunter Cat. I.
p. 460.)
WARWICK
WTROTH.
 J. H. S. VOL, XXVII (1907) PL. IV.

3 4

7 8

II
IOe C)?

COINS OF PEPARETHUS, &c.