88 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Eome in the time of Mithradates, B.C. 84. On the obverse is 

 a Greek bust of the Ephesian Artemis ; and on the reverse the 

 Asiatic cultiis-statue of the goddess. 



Neajpolis in Ionia. — Two bronze coins respectively of 

 Severus Alexander and Volusian, the latter bearing the name 

 of Candidus as " Grammateus " for the second time. There 

 were previously no coins of this town in the British Museum. 



Fhoccea in Ionia. — An electrum stater ; one of the most 

 singularly interesting numismatic monuments which have sur- 

 vived from the earliest period of the art of coining. It 

 belongs to the first half of the sixth century B.C., during which 

 time, Phoctea, one of the chief centres of maritime enterprise 

 in the Mediterranean, was supreme upon the sea (Herod. I., 

 163). According to Eusebius (Chron. ed. Mai, p. 331), the 

 Phoca3an Thalassocracy lasted 44 years, commencing circ. 

 B.C. 575. It has, however, been shown by Goodwin {De 

 potentice veterum gentium niaritivioi epochis apud Euse- 

 hium, Gottingen, 1855) that the beginning of the Phocsean 

 Thalassocracy must be placed as early as B.C. 602. From this 

 time until the reign of Croesus, King of Lydia (b.c. 560), the 

 commercial influence of Phoc?ea, both on sea and land, was 

 predominant, and strong enough to give occasion to an entire 

 reform of the currency of the Ionian coast lands. The newly- 

 acquired stater, weighing one-fiftieth part of the old Baby- 

 lonian gold mina, is a specimen of this reformed coinage. 

 Artistically it is also of great interest, as it is the oldest known 

 example of what is called a " tyj^e parlant " (i.e., a device 

 suggested by the name of the town). On the obverse is a seal 

 (0wK:r>), the badge of Phooa3a ; and on the reverse, two rude 

 incuse squares of different sizes. This stater is also of con- 

 siderable palsBographic importance, for it bears an ancient 

 form of the letter <^ (©) which has not been met with else- 

 where, either on coins or inscriptions. There are few coins of 

 remote antiquity which have been so frequently cited, both 

 by Greek historians and metrologists, as this famous electrum 

 stater of Phoc^ea, of which the only other extant specimen 

 is preserved in the Museum at Munich. 



Smyrna in Ionia. — An alliance coin of the reign of 

 Gordian III., between the city of Smyrna and the Roman 

 Province of Asia. It reads ACTA . CMYPNA . OMONOIA. 

 Instances of alliance coins between cities and provinces are 

 elsewhere quite unknown. 



Alabanda in Caria. — A very rare silver coin (wt. 113 grs.), 

 with a tripod on the reverse, issued after B.C. 168, when the 

 Roman Senate conferred freedom upon Caria and Lycia 

 (Polyb. XXX. 5 ; Liv. xlv. 25). 



Plarasa and Aphrodisias in Caria. — A drachm of the 1st 



century 



