A Group of Staters of Timotheus and/or Dionysius, Tyrants of Heraclea Pontica

Author(s): WILLIAM M. STANCOMB

Source: The Numismatic Chronicle (1966-) , 2000, Vol. 160 (2000), pp. 263-268
Published by: Royal Numismatic Society

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/42668270

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 NOTES 263

Athenian siege of
1.56-65), and this
made Mende's tetra
bc (Thuc. 4.123 an
ACGC , p. 137. The
now be dated between c.432 and 424 bc. Both mints will have been closed
by the operation of the Athenian Standards Decree.6

6 The 425/4 dating of the Decree is now well established. See my recent case in Klio 75 (1993),
pp. 99-102 and ZPE 126 (1999), pp. 120-122.

A Group of Staters of Timotheus and/or Dionysius,

Tyrants of Heraclea Pontica
WILLIAM M. STANCOMB

[plates 37-38]

Twenty-four silver staters from Heraclea Pontica in the names of the

tyrants Timotheus and Dionysius (346-305 bc), were sold at Bonhams on
8 September 1998. 1 The coins were part of a deceased's estate and no
further information concerning their origin is available.2 Nevertheless, their
similar patination and uniformly worn condition suggest strongly that they
constitute all or part of a single hoard, a conclusion reinforced by the fact
that these staters are otherwise uncommon. No hoard of such staters has
been reported before. The types are as follows :
Obv. Head of young Dionysus 1. with long hair, wearing an ivy-wreath; as if on
his 1. shoulder, filleted thyrsus.
Rev. Herakles naked striding 1. on ground line, his 1. hand touching a round
shield fixed to a trophy post (which is sometimes set on a base), his raised
r. arm adding a spear to the trophy; lion-skin over 1. arm; at 1. shoulder, a
bow in 4 Scythian' bowcase (gorytos) behind his back.3 The remainder of the

1 Lots 213-23. I am grateful to Mr Daniel Fearon of Bonhams for showing me these coins
at short notice and providing polaroid photographs. The weights were checked with a balance
limited to one place of decimals only and some may be slightly inaccurate. Any coins purchased
by the author or put up for sale again have been re-weighed.
2 Other coins sold by Bonhams from the same estate were lots 225-34, 238, 245 and 248. It
is just possible that some of these were from the same hoard ; for instance, lot 226, a drachm of
Sinope with standing eagle countermark (now in the Ashmolean Museum), is of about the same
period, but it has a different patina. None of these lots contained any other coins of Heraclea.
3 The bow in case (i.e. a Scythian bow in gorytos with quiver pocket outside) is sketchily
rendered, the clearest example here being cat. no. 1 ; see also the full description above Recueil
33. A consequence of this inadequate die engraving is that usually only the arrow pocket on the
outside of the gorytos appears on the coin.

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 264 NOTES

trophy consists of
of a cuirass visible
part of a sword set
coins, there is a ra
and a club leaning
2-4 below) show th
trophy post, with t

The worn state, s

linking a little unce
minor flaw behind
on no. 11.

CATALOGUE

Bonhams' lot numbers are in square brackets; three coins w

resold and five coins purchased by the author are noted. Di
in brackets as Roman numerals representing hours of the c
Timotheus c.346 bc
1. 9-61 g, (ii). Rev. To r., TIMO0EO[Y], reading outwards; ram's head 1.
above ground line between Herakles' legs; trophy with
base; helmet off flan and no club visible; outline of bow
in case behind Herakles. [Lot 219]. (Author's coll.).
Timotheus and Dionysius 346-337 bc
Rev . To r., TIMO0EOY, reading inwards; to 1., AIONYIIOY, reading outwards.
2. 9-6 g, (ii). Rev. Ram's head 1. to 1. of trophy with base; club not
visible; no bow in case behind Herakles; die flaw 1. of
cuirass. [Lot 216A]. (Author's coll.).
3.-1 9-5 g, (ii). Rev . Ram's head 1. to 1. of trophy with no base; knotted
club in exergue (off flan) ; bow in case behind Herakles.
[Lot 218B].
4 J 9-7 g, (ii). [Lot 216B]. (Author's coll.).
r-5. 9-8 g, (ii). Rev. Ram's head 1. on ground line between Herakles'
legs?; top of thin club 1. not quite touching the trophy
with base. [Lot 218A]. G. Hirsch 205 (1999), 254.
-6. 9-58 g, (i). Rev. Ram's head 1. on ground line between Herakles' legs;
thin short club 1. leans against trophy with no base. [Lot
218D]. Gorny 97 (1999), 334.
f-7. 9-5 g, (i) As last, but smaller ram's head 1. over ground line and
slightly larger club not quite touching trophy with base.
[Lot 218C].
-8.-1 9-5 g, (i). Smaller ram's head 1. as above; slightly knotted club 1.
touches trophy with base. [Lot 217C].
9.J 9-4 g, (i). [Lot 218E].

4 I would like to thank Dr Stanley Ireland for his assistance with noting the die links, which
are marked on the catalogue below.

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 NOTES 265

i- 10. 9-8 g, (xii). O

ram's head over
trophy with bas
-11. 9-6 g, (ii). Obv
above; slightly k
with base. [Lot
12.-1 9-38 g, (xii). R
almost vertical a
13.-1 9-8 g, (i). [L
14. 9-67 g, (xii). Rev
against trophy
423.

15. 9-61 g, (i). Rev. As last. [Lot 214].

16. 9-29 g, (ii). Rev. No ram's head or club; short second line above
ground line; trophy with base; lion's tail reaches ground
line. [Lot 213]. (Author's coll.).

Dionysius 337-305 bc
Rev. To r., AIONYXIOY, reading inwards.
17.^ 9-53 g, (ii). Rev. No ram's head; club 1. of trophy with base reaches
up to cuirass; lion's tail reaches ground line. [Lot 220].
18 J 10-1 g, (xii). [Lot 222C].
19.-1 10-2 g, (xii). Rev. Ram's head 1.; no ground line visible between
Herakles' legs; thick club 1. of trophy with no base
reaches up to cuirass. [Lot 222 A].
20 J 101 g, (xii). Same rev. die as last. [Lot 223C].
21. 9-54 g, (xii). Rev. No ram's head; knotted club 1. of trophy with no
base reaches up to cuirass. [Lot 221]. (Author's coll.).
22. 9-56 g, (ii). Rev. Large ram's head between Herakles' legs; thin club 1.
not quite against trophy with no base; lion's tail falls to
1. of Herakles' r. leg. [Lot 222B]. Gorny 96 (1999), 145.
23. 9-9 g, (xii). Rev. Trace of ram's head visible between Herakles' legs?;
thin club 1. of trophy with no base reaches up to cuirass;
lion's tail touches ground line? [Lot 223 A].
24. 9-7 g, (i). Rev. No ram's head; thick club 1. of trophy with no base
reaches up to cuirass ; lion's tail touches ground line.
[Lot 223B].

Clearchus, the founder of the tyranny at Heraclea, had seized power in 364
when the oligarchs of the city were defeated and the survivors fled into exile.
He was assassinated in 352, and as his sons Timotheus and Dionysius were
still boys at the time his brother Satyrus acted as regent until his own death
in 346, when the older brother Timotheus, although not quite of age, came
to power; the younger brother Dionysius seems to have joined him as co-

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 266 NOTES

tyrant not long

sole tyrant and ru
The god Dionysu
before the accessio
noting that Clear
course the younge
our coins, a simila
appears on the rev
and Satyrus,6 an
Clearchus.
The hoard contains a few new varieties, of which the most interesting is no.
1, with the name of Timotheus alone. This is not unexpected, given that
Timotheus was the older brother. It is worth noting that his name is to the
right of the type, and during the period of joint issue generally remains there.
A less common type, not represented in this hoard, reverses the positions of
the two names (. Recueil 37; SNG Delepierre 2500). On Timotheus' death,
Dionysius moves his own name to the right for his issue as sole ruler; one
might assume that the righthand position was in some sense senior. A full die
study could shed further light on this point.
Other hitherto unrecorded variants in this hoard are those displaying the
unusual use and position of the club and ram's head (nos. 2-4, partially
noted in Recueil 36) and the one, no. 2, where Herakles has no bow in case
at all.
The weights of the coins of these issues are a little variable but seem to
conform to a reduced Persic (double siglos) standard. They are often called
staters, the term which is used here. To judge from the obverse dies
represented in the hoard, the series was fairly prolific. The coins are carelessly
struck, usually on short flans. They may well have been produced to pay the
mercenaries who sustained the tyrants in power. Clearchus and his successors
supported Persian rule until its final collapse, and one might suppose that
their mercenaries would have preferred a Persian weight coinage. The placing
of a ruler's name on a civic Greek coinage was quite exceptional up to this
time. The only parallel is a much earlier one, the rare coinage struck in the

5 See S. M. Burstein, Outpost of Hellenism: the Emergence of Heraclea on the Black Sea
(University of California Press, 1976) for the detailed history of Heraclea Pontica and references
to the literary sources.
P. R. Franke, 'Zur Tyrannis des Klearchos und Satyros in Herakleia am Pontus',
Archäologische Anzeiger 81 (1966), pp. 130-9. Types: (A) (diobols) Obv. Hera wearing turreted
Stephane 1.; to r., HPAK; Rev. Trophy; to 1., club leaning against it; to 1., K; to r., bow in case
leaning to r. ( SNG BM 1, 1593). The same, but with the letter Z ( SNG BM 1, 1603, ex SNG von
Aulock 361). (B) (obols) Obv. Herakles wearing lion-skin 1.; below, HPAK. Rev. Trophy; to 1.,
club leaning against it; to 1., K; to r., bow in case ( SNG Copenhagen 418); a similar type, Recueil
18, has the letter I. Although there is no literary evidence for it, these coins might suggest that
Clearchus and Satyrus held a joint tyranny, perhaps in the latter years of Clearchus' rule. The
practice of dual rule continued until the end of the dynasty in 281 (see below).

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 NOTES 267

name of Themisto
ruled Asia Minor.
The hoard was probably concealed in the early years of Dionysius' sole
rule. A brief look at all the other coins of this type published so far, along
with this hoard, suggests that there are far more die combinations for the
eight years of joint rule than for the thirty-two years under Dionysius alone.
Practical politics would have brought about a change in the coin type under
Dionysius. Alexander the Great invaded Asia Minor in 334 and although he
did not conquer the northern part, he regarded it as his territory and
demanded the return of the Heraclean exiles on at least two occasions (331
and 324). Dionysius feared Alexander's desire to consolidate his kingdom in
this northern region and survived one attempt when Alexander's Helles-
pontine governor Calas sought but failed to conquer Bithynia in 327. Even
Alexander's death did not remove the threat, for in 322 the Grand Army
under Perdiccas invaded Cappadocia Pontica to remove a local Persian
dynast, Ariarathes, and Perdiccas too demanded the return of the exiles.
Following some further years of danger, Dionysius aligned himself with
Antigonus Monophthalmus, by then the de facto ruler of Asia Minor, and
this, together with his important diplomatic marriage to the Persian princess
Amastris, enabled him to play a minor role in the dynastic politics of the
region.
Given the unsettled conditions of the early years of Dionysius' sole
power, an advertisement of tyranny may well have been provocative to
Alexander. I would therefore tend to agree with Martin Price's general dating
to the period following Alexander's invasion of a handsome stater of the
same light Persic weight in the British Museum ( SNG BM 1,1615), which has
the civic name. The description is : Obv. Dionysus left with thyrsus, as on the
signed staters. Rev. Herakles facing with lion's skin and club placed on rock;
to r., a column on which Nike crowns him, monogram and HPAKAEflTAN.
This special type may well mark the end of the staters bearing Dionysius'
name.7
After this, the relative chronology is not so clear. Attic weight coins in the
name of Alexander were the currency of account in Asia Minor under
Antigonus and his successors, and Heraclea Pontica issued a rare
tetradrachm on this weight standard ( SNG BM, 1, 1619), which falls within
the period of Dionysius or his sons. But the more common staters with the
same types {Obv. Head of young Herakles wearing lion-skin r. Rev. Dionysus
seated on throne holding cantharus and thyrsus; HPAKAEÍ1TAN and
monograms: SNG BM 1, 1616-18) remain on the Persic standard.
In a curious repetition of history, on Dionysius' death in 305 his own two
7 In Recueil this issue is given to the period of Queen Arsinoé, 284-81. The two examples
illustrated, 42 and 43, show a different monogram to the BM specimen and 43 shows Nike
without the column.

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 268 NOTES

sons Clearchus II and

by their mother Amas
city of Amastris to t
name on the reduce
Heraclea Pontica in 2
weight in the name

APPENDIX

This series would benefit from a full die-study, not att

future use, I list below the coins of Timotheus and Diony
in standard publications. Denominations are those used b
authors. Examples published in SNG Stancomb were acquir
from the above hoard.

Coins of Timotheus and Dionysius

ACNAC Dewing 2151 (stater), 2152 (hemidrachm) ; de Hirsch 1433 (Persian
stater); McClean 7467 (stater); Recueil 33, 35-7 (staters), 34 (quarter stater);
SNG BM 1, 1605 (plated stater), 1606-7 (staters), 1608 (stater, ex SNG von
Aulock 363), 1609 (hemidrachm); SNG Copenhagen 419 (stater), 420
(quarter stater); SNG Delepierre 2499-2500 (staters); SNG Stancomb 817
(double siglos), 818 (half-siglos); SNG von Aulock 362-3, 6935 (staters);
H. Weber 4883 (stater).

Coins of Dionysius
De Nanteuil 670 (Persian stater); McClean 7468 (stater); Recueil 38, 40
(staters), 39 (drachm); SNG BM 1 1610-11 (staters), 1612 (drachm); SNG
Copenhagen 421-2 (staters) ; SNG Delepierre 2501 (drachm) ; SNG Stancomb
819 (siglos); SNG von Aulock 364, 6936-7 (drachms); H.Weber 4884
(drachm).

Two Second Century bc Bronze Hoards

from the Black Sea

CONSTANTIN E LAGOS

[plates 39-40]

The sixty-two coins catalogued below were recently bought together on the
London market.1 Thirteen are covered with an identical green patina and
1 I am grateful to the collector who allowed me to study and publish the coins. I would like
to thank in particular Mr W. M. Stancomb for commenting on a draft of this Note, which has

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 PLATE 37

STANCOMB, HERACLEA PONTICA (1)

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 PLATE 38

STANCOMB, HERACLEA PONTICA (2)

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