Northern Greece. Macedon, the Chalkidian League, Olynthos.
Tetradrachm, c. 350 BC. (Silver, 14.44g., 24.7mm). Laureate head of Apollo to right, with his hair falling in long locks down the back of his neck / Χ-Α-Λ-ΚΙΔ-ΕΩΝ Kithara with six strings; below, ΕΠΙ APIΣΤΩNΟΣ. Robinson & Clement 128.

Olynthos (IACP 588) was originally a city of the Bottiaeans, a Macedonian people of uncertain ethnicity; it became Greek when they were partially expelled by the Persians and the city given to the Chalkidians in 479. It rapidly became the chief city of the Chalkidike and a bulwark against the expansionary dreams of Athens, Sparta and the Macedonian kings. By 433/2 it had become the capital of the Chalkidian Confederacy or League; all the surrounding towns were abandoned and their inhabitants moved to Olynthos, which, thus, became the most populous city in the whole area. Olynthos went to war with Sparta c. 382 and was defeated two years later, at which point the League was disbanded. After Sparta’s defeat by Thebes at Leuctra in 371 the Confederacy was reformed. It ceased to exist in 348 after Philip II destroyed Olynthos and all of its population who were unable to flee were enslaved. While Olynthos seems to have produced some coinage in its own name beginning in the very late 6th century (its earliest issues seem to have inspired the coinage of Syracuse, which had to be struck from silver imported from mines in northern Greece), the city’s main coinage was that issued in the name of the League beginning in the 430s. This coinage primarily consisted of tetradrachms and tetrobols bearing a head of Apollo on the obverse and his kithara on the reverse. This coin provides us with yet another vision of Apollo, one of serenity and elegance. It is interesting that when Philip II chose a head of Apollo to go on his own gold coinage, his very earliest types had a head with long hair falling down the back of the god’s neck, as here. This was almost immediately changed to the short-haired version that is so well known. Perhaps, since Philip’s gold was destined to pay mercenaries, especially including Celts, a short-haired version was deemed more clearly masculine?

Erhaltung: A beautifully centered, toned, and well struck coin in high relief. Good extremely fine.

Anmerkungen
Provenance:
Collection of a deceased collector in Cincinnati, Gemini V, 6 January 2009, 59.
On display in the Cincinnati Museum of Art, 1994-2008 (90).
Acquired from H. J. Berk in 1990.