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Three Weights of Lampsacus

Oğuz Tekin
p. 155-158

Texte intégral

I would like to thank Falko Daim, head of the Early Medieval Department of the Germanisches Zentralmuseum, for permitting me to publish the weight and Ute Klatt, head of the Image Archive of the same museum, for sending me the photo of the weight and Jörg Drauschke for sending me the technical info of the weight. I also thank Mrs Remziye Küçük, wife of the late collector, for permitting me to publish these two weights.

1Located on the southern coast of the Sea of Marmara near the Dardanelles, Lampsacus (the modern-day Lapseki) was settled by colonists from Phocaea (Foça) and Miletus. Under the control, successively, of Lydia and Persia, Lampsacus paid a tax of 12 talents (approximately 300 kg of silver) to the Delian League established by Athens to counteract the Persian threat. The city also minted gold coins in the 4th century B.C., which was a rarity for Anatolian cities in the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Both the large tax paid by the city to the Delian League and the fact that it minted gold coins indicates that Lampsacus was among the region’s wealthiest cities. The city was also the home of Priapus, a god of fertility and reproduction, as well as producing a number of philosophers who put their print on the intellectual world of their time.

  • 1 Thompson 1991.
  • 2 Thompson 1968: 170 ff.

2Lampsacus began to mint coins in the early 5th century B.C., with its earliest electrum staters and then gold ones being known as Lampsakenoi. The city continued minting throughout the Classical and Hellenistic periods, but it did not mint only its own coins: it was one of the mints of Alexander the Great1 and after the death of Alexander the Great, it also produced coins in the name of King Lysimachus2, who ruled in Thrace and in the Marmara region. Lysimachus, like Alexander’s other successors, copied the images used on coins minted in Alexander’s time, thus continuing to produce Alexander’s coins even after his death.

  • 3 For the Hippalectryon on the Lampsacene electrum, gold, silver and bronze coins see Baldwin 1924, e (...)
  • 4 Fritze 1910: pl. I, nos 1-5; Gaebler 1924: pl. XVIII, nos 1-12; Stauber 1996: nos 11-15 (many examp (...)

3On the coins of Lampsacus, there are various types but the common type is the Hippalectryon, which occurs frequently on Lampsacene coins3. So this type, Hippalectryon, was also used as a symbol on the market weights of Lampsacus. This type was also used by Adramyteum on its coins4, so the attribution of every weight bearing a Hippalectryon to Lampsacus is not certain since these weights do not bear the ethnic on them. The following three weights are from various collections: while the first one is from Germanisches Zentralmuseum at Mainz, the other two are from a private collection in Şarköy (Edirne); none of them were published previously.

  • 5 Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, inv. no O.40402.

4The first weight (Fig. 1)5 is almost a thick square in form with bevelled edges but the bottom is larger than the top; it measures 32x30x11 mm and weighs 122.5 g. On the obverse is a Hippalectryon facing left with curved right; below, the denominational mark T which stands for τέταρτον, all in relief. The reverse is blank. It is a tetarton, i.e. quarter mna (mna of 490 g). Although the exact find place is unknown, it is stated in the inventory book that this weight was bought from a private collector in Istanbul in 1984.

The three weights

The three weights
  • 6 RK 004 (tentative number).
  • 7 Since the collector passed away long ago it was impossible to learn the acquisition date or find pl (...)

5The second weight (Fig. 2)6 is square in form too. It measures 26x25x11 mm and weighs 66.1 g. On the obverse there is an Hippalectryon facing left as the previous one. The figure is worn. We cannot be sure of its denomination since there is no denominational mark on the weight. But its mass corresponds to an ogdoon, i.e. one-eighth of a mna (mna of 528.8 g). This weight was acquired in Tekirdağ in 1990s7 or later.

  • 8 RK 008 (tentative number).

6The third weight (Fig. 3)8 is also square in form: it measures 23x23x8 mm and weighs 39.5 g. On the obverse is an Hippalectryon again but this time facing right and its head looks like a camel’s head due to deformation. Below, a large O may be either an omicron or rather a wreath. If we assume it as an omicron, then it might be the initial of the denominational name, i.e. ogdoon but its mass does not correspond to an ogdoon (1/8 of a mna) since it is too light for an ogdoon. Then it may be a wreath. The mass of the present weight corresponds to a one-twelfth of a mna (mna of 474 g) but it may be a unit in stater standard, maybe a distateron? (stater of 19.75 g). This weight was acquired in Tekirdağ in the 1990s or later.

  • 9 Weiss 2008: 714.
  • 10 Weiss 2008: 714-715.
  • 11 For the Hippalectryon on the coins of Adramyteum see Fritze 1910: nos 1-5; Roma Numismatics Ltd. Au (...)

7The main reason attributing the weights above-mentioned to Lampsacus is the Hippalectryon since it was the civic badge of that city. It is an hybrid creature with half-horse and half-rooster with wings and tail. Thus, the type on the weights is not a Pegasus but a Hippalectryon as it was stated previously by Weiss9. They differ from each other by their peculiar characteristics. Although Hippalectryon, is a civic badge for Lampsacus, this type was also used by other cities in Mysia and Troas10. But – beside Lampsacus – the nearest candidate to attribute the weights bearing a Hippalectryon is Adramyteum since this creature was used as a common type as well as the owl on the coins of this city11. We prefer to attribute the present weights and the weight with Hippalectryon in general to Lampsacus since the Hippalectryon was nearly a constant civic badge of Lampsacus during the Classical and Hellenistic periods.

Table

Mna

499 g

MNA

Weiss 2008, p. 713, no 1

Hemimnaion

237.10 g

H

CPAI Turkey 3, no 29

Hemimnaion

236 g

H

Weiss 2008, p. 713, no 2

Tetarton

122.5 g

T

Here, Fig. 1 (Mainz)

Ogdoon

66.1 g

-

Here, Fig. 2 (RK)

Ogdoon

62.82 g

O ?

Weiss 2008, p. 713, no 3

Ogdoon

56.90 g

OΓ[ΔO]?

CPAI Turkey 3, no 30

1/12 mna

39.5 g

-

Here, Fig. 3 (RK)

1/24 mna

20.65 g

-

CPAI Turkey 3, no 31

A Compilation of the Weights of Lampsacus

  • 12 Weiss 2008: 713, no 1.
  • 13 Weiss 1990: 125 ff; Tekin 2013: 172.
  • 14 Weiss 2008: 715.
  • 15 CPAI Turkey 3: no 29.
  • 16 Weiss 2008: 713, no 2.h
  • 17 Weiss 2008: 713, no 3.
  • 18 CPAI Turkey 3: no 30.
  • 19 CPAI Turkey 3: no 30.
  • 20 CPAI Turkey 3: no 31.

8Only a few weights of Lampsacus survived today. When we compare Lampsacus with Cyzicus, both important cities of the Propontis, one expects more weights of Lampsacus. But, anyway, the survived examples of Lampsacus may help to understand the standard of mna and its subunits. One of the known examples of Lampsacene weights bears the denominational mark M which stands for μνᾶ and it weighs 499 g12. This example is important since it bears the denominational mark. The mna of 499 or 500 g is quite common in the Aegean world. The neighbouring city of Cyzicus also used a mna of ± 500 g13. The first weight (Fig. 1) presented in this article is a tetarton, i.e. quarter mna and weighs 122.5 g. Its mass corresponds to the mass of the mna mentioned above. When we multiply 122.5 g by four we get 490 g. or – vice versa – when we divide 499 g by four we get 124.75 g; both figures (122.5 g and 124.74 g) are quite near to each other and they give a mna of 490-500 g for Lampsacus14. But the hemimnaion examples does not strictly correspond to a mna of 490-500 g since they are lighter. Of the two hemimnaion units, one is 236 g15, another is 237.10 g16; both give a mna of ca. 472/474 g. On the other hand, there are also three ogdoons, one is presented here (Fig. 2), the other is in a private collection17 and another one is in the Pera Museum18. While the masses of the first two ogdoons are quite close to each other (66.1 g and 62.82 g, respectively), the one in Pera Museum19 with 56.90 g is lighter than these two examples. So, while the first two give a mna of 528.8 g and 502.56 g, the ogdoon in Pera Museum gives a mna of 455.2 g. Although the third weight (Fig. 3) is a 1/12 mna (mna of 474 g), the smallest unit of the Lampsacene weights is 20.65 g which is in Pera Museum20. It is either a 1/24 of a mna (mna of 495.6 g) or a stater weight. We may conclude that the mna of Lampsacus was previously about 470-480 g but the standard was raised to 490-500 g in time (may be in the Late Hellenistic Period). The three weights in question date to the Hellenistic Period.

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Bibliographie

CPAI Turkey 3: O. Tekin, Corpus Ponderum Antiquorum et Islamicorum. Turkey 3. Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundation Collection at the Pera Museum. Part 1. Greek and Roman Weights, Istanbul, 2013.

Fritze, H. V., 1910: “Die vorkaiserlichen Münzen von Adramytion”, Nomisma V: 10-24.

Gaebler, H., 1924: “Lampsakenische Parerga”, Zeitschrift für Numismatik (1924): 304-314.

Stauber, J., 1996: Die Bucht von Adramytteion, Teil II, Bonn.

Tekin, O., 2013: “Weights of Cyzicus in Athens Numismatic Museum”, Anatolia Antiqua XXI: 167-173. DOI: 10.3406/anata.2013.1347.

Thompson, M., 1968: “The mints of Lysimachus”, in Kraay, C.M. and Jenkins, G.K. (eds.), Essays in Greek Coinage Presented to Stanley Robinson, Oxford, 1968: 163-182.

Thompson, M., 1991: Alexander Drachm Mints 2: Lampsacus and Abydus, American Numismatic Society, New York.

Weiss, P., 1990: “Marktgewichte von Kyzikos und Hipparchengewichte”, in Schwertheim, E. (ed.), Mysische Studien: 117-139.

Weiss, P., 2008: “Gewichte Griechischer Stadte I: Byzantion, Lampsakos, Ilion, Alexandria Troas”, in Winter, E. (ed.), Vom Euphrat bis zum Bosporus. Kleinasien in der Antike, Festschrift für Elmar Schwertheim zum 65. Geburtstag, vol. 2, Bonn.

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Notes

1 Thompson 1991.

2 Thompson 1968: 170 ff.

3 For the Hippalectryon on the Lampsacene electrum, gold, silver and bronze coins see Baldwin 1924, esp. Plates I-III; BMC Mysia, nos 1-9; 23-31; 46-49; 50-67. But unfortunately, this creature is misdescribed as Pegasus in the above-mentioned publications although it is a Hippalectryon with its rooster tail.

4 Fritze 1910: pl. I, nos 1-5; Gaebler 1924: pl. XVIII, nos 1-12; Stauber 1996: nos 11-15 (many examples).

5 Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, inv. no O.40402.

6 RK 004 (tentative number).

7 Since the collector passed away long ago it was impossible to learn the acquisition date or find place of the two weights.

8 RK 008 (tentative number).

9 Weiss 2008: 714.

10 Weiss 2008: 714-715.

11 For the Hippalectryon on the coins of Adramyteum see Fritze 1910: nos 1-5; Roma Numismatics Ltd. Auction 4: 1487; Münzen und Medaillen Deutschland GmbH, Auction 30: 327-328; Dr. Busso Peus Nachfolger, Auction 380: 459.

12 Weiss 2008: 713, no 1.

13 Weiss 1990: 125 ff; Tekin 2013: 172.

14 Weiss 2008: 715.

15 CPAI Turkey 3: no 29.

16 Weiss 2008: 713, no 2.h

17 Weiss 2008: 713, no 3.

18 CPAI Turkey 3: no 30.

19 CPAI Turkey 3: no 30.

20 CPAI Turkey 3: no 31.

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Table des illustrations

Titre The three weights
URL http://journals.openedition.org/anatoliaantiqua/docannexe/image/296/img-1.jpg
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Oğuz Tekin, « Three Weights of Lampsacus »Anatolia Antiqua, XXII | 2014, 155-158.

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Oğuz Tekin, « Three Weights of Lampsacus »Anatolia Antiqua [En ligne], XXII | 2014, mis en ligne le 30 juin 2018, consulté le 31 mars 2023. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/anatoliaantiqua/296 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/anatoliaantiqua.296

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Oğuz Tekin

Istanbul University, Ancient History Department, Beyazıt-Istanbul
tekinotekin@yahoo.com

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