A Major Pickup: King Monounios of Illyria

[kirispupis]

I recently took a major step towards completing my People of Philip II, Alexander III, and the Era of the Diadochi collection with this pickup of King Monounios, leaving only 2-4 (depending on how I count) targets left.

Kingdom of Illyria, Monounios
Dyrrhachion
Circa 305-275 BCE
AR stater 21mm 10.57g 5h 
Obv: cow standing left, looking back at suckling calf standing right below; monogram above.
Rev: double stellate pattern divided by line, all in double linear square border; ΔYP (P retrograde) and club around; all within linear circle border.
Paškvan-; Maier 34 var. (same); Meadows, CH (forthcoming) 193; SNG Copenhagen-425 var. (orientation of obv.); BMC-29 var. (same).
ex Classical Numismatic Group 2015
 

King Monounios was probably the son of King Glaukias of Illyria, who made the unfortunate move of revolting against Alexander. He was defeated and only the revolt of Thebes likely saved his life. Some time later, Glaukias took in the infant Pyrrhos, the rightful heir of Epiros, and resisted the efforts of Kassander, who offered to "buy the kingdom" from him for 200 talents. He later helped install the then young Pyrrhos on the throne of Epiros.

Moving on to Monounios, he took advantage of the power vaccuum when Pyrrhos went on his pillaging vacation in Italy and expanded his kingdom to eventually include Dyrrhachion, where this coin was minted. He also took part in the "Diadochi Games" by supporting Ptolemy Epigonos, son of Lysimachos, against Ptolemy Keraunos.

Monounios' coinage displays how he slowly took over Dyrrhachion. This coin is among the earliest, when he began with just a monogram on the obverse. Eventually he expanded his influence to include "King Monounios" on the reverse, but in this example it returns the traditional reverse of Dyrrhachion.

His tomb is believed to exist at the Royal Tombs of Selca e Poshtme in modern day Albania. It was robbed in antiquity but there are some reliefs remaining that are believed to depict him. A bronze helmet was found at Lake Ohrid with his name written in a similar fashion to his coins.

In terms of the mint Dyrrhachion, the double stellate pattern on these coins has been the subject of much debate. The real truth is we continue to have no idea, but that hasn't stopped numerous numismatists from conjecturing. The following have been proposed.

- The garden of Alkinöos, the mythical king of Phaiakia, as described by Homer. It's believed these gardens were at Korkyra, which colonized Dyrrhachion.
- Random strokes, along the lines of "this looks cool"
- Some religious floral arrangement belonging to a religious cult, most likely to Apollo Aristaios or Nomos
- Not Homer's garden of Alkinöos, but a separate one at Dyrrhachion

More likely are the beliefs in the obverse, with a cow suckling a calf. These mirror the coinage of Karystos, which is believed to have settled Korkyra, the parent city of Dyrrhachion

[antwerpen2306]

very nice coin and explanation. I have multiple coins of Dyrrhachion and also Apollonia but only drachms.

one for Dyrrhachion :

Afmetingen : 20 mm , 3,3 gr , as 3 uur .

Periode : ca 229 – 100 vC : klasse D2 : 176/140. .

Referenties : Ceka103.

Mintmaster : Archimedes.

 

[Deinomenid]

3 hours ago, kirispupis said:

The real truth is we continue to have no idea, but that hasn't stopped numerous numismatists from conjecturing. The following have been proposed.

Ha! Indeed!

Great write up and congratulations. Re speculation though I thought the mainstream current speculation these days was it was a symbol of the Diadochi. Over on the German forum that seems to be a more received wisdom, not that I know any better.  This might be of interest-

https://asklapiadas-ancients-info.translate.goog/index.html?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Lots of pages on it at the sidebar. Author is as far as I know an amateur specialist, for better or worse. He had similar articles in the Celator.

Here’s a different type-

AR-Stater, 350/300 BC BC; 8.17g.Pegasus flies r.//Head of Athena r. with Corinthian helmet, l. club.

[Ursus]

Beautiful coin!

I very much like the type and consider my own Dyrrhachion stater one of the highlights of my Greek collection:

Illyria, Dyrrhachion, AR stater, ca. 340–280 BC. Obv: cow standing r. with suckling calf; above, ME. Rev: double stellate square; around, Δ-Y- retrograde P and club. 21mm, 10.61g. Ref: Maier 28; HGC 3, 33; Meadows CH 140 (forthcoming, this coin). Ex AMCC 3, lot 28; ex Chris B collection; ex CNG, e-auction 429, lot 79.

[Anaximander]

On 6/21/2024 at 10:45 AM, kirispupis said:

I recently took a major step towards completing my People of Philip II, Alexander III, and the Era of the Diadochi collection with this pickup of King Monounios, leaving only 2-4 (depending on how I count) targets left.

Kudos! Nice example @kirispupis. That is listed as stater or tetradrachm by Hoover in his HGC vol. 3.1 #33. Love the commentary. I lean towards the motif of Alkinöo's Garden, myself, on the reverse, and appreciate the origins of the obverse calf motif, Karystos (Euboia).  I've only managed drachma (aka "victoriati") of that type, like @antwerpen2306, and weak examples at that. I skew to having cows from Euboia and ponies from Corinth. I do have, like @Deinomenid, a very different type from Dyrrhachion. 

      

Illyria, Epidamnos-Dyrrhachium. 229-100 BC. AR Victoriatus or drachm (3.20 gm, 18mm, 9h). Cow right w/ suckling calf. ΑΛΚΩΝ  (magistrate) above.  / Double stellate pattern in square, 'Alkinoo's Garden.' ΔΥΡ (ethnic) - ΜΕΝΕ-ΚΡΑ-ΤΕΟΣ (Meniskos… magistrates) around. VF. Bt. Louis DiLauro, Coral Gables, 1999.  HGC 3.1 #40; Maier Silberpragung #301.  cf. SNG Cop 3 #480 (tripod), #499 (half victoriatus). None in acsearch.info. 

    

Illyria & Paeonia. Illyria, Epidamnos-Dyrrhachium. 275-270 BC. AR Drachm (2.19ᵍᵐ 14.7ᵐᵐ 2ʰ). Head of Herakles right, clad in lion skin headdress.  / Pegasos flying right, wings spread, ΔΥꟼ (rho retrograde) around. gVF. Bt. Ancient Imports, 2011. Ex-Spartan Numismatics S27 #88. BMC 27; HGC 3.1 #36; Maier Silberpragung #77; SNG Cop 3 #433-436.