Historia numorum : a manual of Greek numismatics / by Barclay V. Head.

  • Barclay Vincent Head
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Historia numorum : a manual of Greek numismatics / by Barclay V. Head. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    other honorary titles. When a chief magistrate happened to be also invested with the office and dignity of a priesthood he would, as often as not, omit all mention of the true title which constituted him eponymous Magistrate, while talcing especial care to record the fact that he was 'Aviupxns, dpxiepevs, lepevs, crT«pavT](p6pos, deoXdyo?, or what not. The above remarks of course only apply to the coins of cities which we know to have been governed by a civil Magistrate, for there can be no doubt that at some towns the eponymous Magistrate was regularly the dpxiepevs or some other sacerdotal dignitary. It is only by a careful study of the whole series of the coins of any particular city that we can ascertain positively what was the local custom in such matters. Although the use of ini with a proper name in the genitive usually implies an eponymous date, many instances may be cited where this is not the case. Thus for example when the title accompanying the name partakes in any way of a financial character, such as Tapias, \oyiarT)s, eVt/xeXynjs, etc., it is not to be supposed that these officers were eponymous Magistrates; evidently they were appointed for some special purpose which included the supervision of the coinage. The less important cities indeed seem only to have coined money at intervals as occasion required, when some one of the citizens would be delegated by the regular Magistrates to direct the issue, or might even voluntarily undertake the whole expense. In such cases the prepositions fitd and napa are sometimes used instead of ini before the name of the pei’son who caused the money to be struck. Nothing in fact can be clearer than the evidence afforded by the coins of the Province of Asia as to the prevalence in Imperial times of what we should term a laudable public spirit among the citizens. It appears to have been Dedicatory no uncommon practice for private individuals to present to their native towns formulae- considerable sums of money in acknowledgment of municipal or sacerdotal honours conferred upon them by the city or the Emperor. The money so contributed to the public purse by private munificence was, we may suppose, foi thwith minted in the name of the donor, the usual dedicatory formula being the name of the donor in the nominative with or without his honorary title, followed by the verb. dvidrjKe and the ethnic either in the genitive or dative, as nOAEMnN CTPATHTflN AN€OHK€ CMYP[NAIOIC], OCTIAIOC MAPK6AA0C 0 ICP€YC TOY ANTINOOY KOPINOIUN ANCOHKCN. Even women occasionally contributed in this manner to the expenses of the municipalities, as we gather (among other instances) from coins of Attuda in Phrygia reading IOY(Ma) K(Xav8ia) KAAYAIANH AN€OH(KeA ATTOY- ACflN (Mion. Suppl., vii. p. 522). Sometimes the verb dvidrjKe is either abbreviated to AN or A, or even altogether omitted for want of space, but it is always to be understood when a proper name in the nominative is followed by the ethnic in the dative, as BCTOYPIOC TOIC APKACI (Mion. ii. 245). Dedicatory issues, such as those above described, are on the whole of rare occurrence, although at certain towns it appears to have been the rule for e eponymous Magistrate, or even for an ordinary citizen, to provide out of is pnvate means for the bronze coinage of his native town. e
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