Completed my coinage of Kea!

[kirispupis]

One interesting tidbit is it's widely believed that the population of many Greek islands was higher in ancient times than today. Such was the case with Kea, which is the closest of the Cyclades to Athens at roughly an hour's ferry ride away. At one point, this island contained four ancient cities, three of which are known to have minted coins.

In history, Kea is best known as the home of the lyric poet Simonides, who was on the ancient "all star" list of nine lyric poets worth studying. It's believed he was born in Ioulis and worked as a teacher in Karthaia. He later moved on to Thessaly and then Sicily.

Kea was long tied to dog star Sirius, and a reference to it is on many of their coins. It's rise in mid-summer was often associated with the worst of the heat, and is the origin for our term "dog days of summer".

Supposedly a long time ago many water nymphs could be found on the island, but the gods became jealous of their beauty and sent a lion to eat everyone. A statue of a lion, dating to roughly 600 BCE, still stands on the island. Supposedly it was carved in order to convince the lion to stop eating people, though I don't see how that would have accomplished much.

The island's coinage can be challenging, and I must admit I was thoroughly confused until I bought and read Papageorgiadou-Banis' The Coinage of Kea, which is a fascinating study of one island's coinage. Before purchasing each coin, I verified it there. Like most Cyclades coins, coins from Kea are difficult to find for sale. Koressos in particular is extremely rare.

Over time, Karthaia and Koressos were swallowed by Ioulis, which remains the largest town on the island. The cities also minted combined coinage under the Koinon of Kea.

Cyclades, Kea
Keia Koinon Circa 4th-3rd Century BCE
16mm 4.81g
Obverse: Laureate head of Aristaios right
Reverse: Forepart of dog Sirius left, within rays of star
SNG Copenhagen 623-4, Papageorgiadou-Banis Series II, Issue 6

 

Cyclades, Keos. Ioulis
Late 3rd-early 2nd century BCE
Æ 11mm, 1.38 g, 6h
Laureate head of Apollo right /
Radiate forepart of Sirius left.
Papageorgiadou-Banis Series VIII; HGC 6, 525
Ex Aleph Collection
Ex Errett Bishop Collection

 

Cyclades, Keos. Karthaia
Late 3rd-early 2nd century BCE
Æ 17mm, 3.68g, 8h
Laureate head of Aristaios right /
Forepart of Seirios left surrounded by rays
Papageorgiadou-Banis Series IX, 155–7; HGC 6, 562
Rescued from NGC encapsulation 4629560-004
Ex CNG 2002

 

Cyclades, Keos. Koressos
4th century BCE
Ae 12mm 1.53g
Obv: Cuttlefish.
Rev: K-O bunch of grapes.
HGC 6, 588

[Deinomenid]

That's a fantastic achievement! I have only managed to acquire one coin, a Koressos cuttlefish so well camouflaged on the coin that it is impossible to photo as anything other than a blob of metal (probably what it really bought!). That lion statue you mention is quite amusing so I feature that rather than my coin on my relevant "archive". Here is  it -

 I keep hoping more Simodes will turn up in the papyri from Oxyrhynchus, but in the meantime thank him for ~saving Akragas from Hieron's attacks - something not many poets can do.

[AncientOne]

Congrats on completing the cities of Keos!  Here's one I acquired from a trade with another collector.  After seeing more cities with Sirius on the reverse I'm not 100% sure this is Karthaia. 

Cyclades, Keos, Karthaia. AE20 Dichalkon. Apollo/Sirius(Seirios)

Obv: Laureate head of Apollo to right.
Rev: forepart of dog (Seirios) to left rays around, trace of fly below,
Late 3rd to early 2nd c. B.C.