Chersonesos
[IACP 695]

Triton XVI, Lot: 113. Estimate $100. Sold for $240. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TAURIC CHERSONESOS, Chersonesos. Circa 400-390 BC. Æ (14mm, 3.69 g, 5h). Head of Artemis Parthenos left, wearing sphendone / Tunny right above club right; XEP below. Anokhin 626; Anokhin, Khersonesa 4; SNG BM Black Sea 708; SNG Pushkin –; SNG Stancomb 454; Sutzu II –. Fine/VF, rough black patina. Rare.

From the Alex Shubs Collection.

Tauric Chersonesos, located on the western coast of the Crimea, was founded circa 422 BC by colonists from Herakleia Pontika and Delion in Boiotia. The city quickly rose in stature through its wine production, but also through its location, which was ideal for trade compared to the other cities in the Cimmerian Bosporos. In turn, as the city grew, Chersonesos established a colony at Karkinitis on the northwest coast of the Crimea. In the second century BC, the city became a target of Skythian raids, and it was forced to appeal to Mithridates VI of Pontus for protection. The Pontic king saved the city from the Skythians, but now incorporated Chersonesos into his own dominion. With the passing of Mithridates, the city became a part of the Kingdom of Bosporos, but finally regained its independence by declaration of the Romans in 36 BC.

Chersonesos began issuing coinage in the early 4th century BC, and had a robust production that reflected the successful commercial center that it was. Its types are unusually diverse, depicting various gods and mythological creatures, although Athena Parthenos and Chersonas appear most frequently in the Greek and Roman periods, respectively. Initially, the city’s coinage was almost strictly bronze, with only a couple rare issues of silver. By the third century, however, a regular silver coinage began to be produced, comparable in size to that of the bronze. This coinage continued into the Roman period, though at a lower level of production after the 1st century BC. In the late 1st century AD, the city issued an unprecedented gold coinage featuring a diademed and draped bust on the obverse (sometimes with the city ethnic), and the figure of Artemis on the reverse. These coins are also dated, probably a convention copied from the contemporary royal Bosporan coinage. Chersonesos had a robust coinage under the Romans, but, unlike many other cities, its coinage never named any of the emperors. While the reverse types featured a diverse selection of mythological scenes and deities, the obverse typically featured a bust of the eponymous Chersonas accompanied by the city’s ethnic. During the Severan period, there were a few issues where this bust appears to have individualized features resembling particular emperors, such as Caracalla, Elagabalus, and Severus Alexander, but even these issues never named the emperor. The coinage under the Empire continued well into the mid-3rd century AD, ending during the reign of Gallienus.