Theodoseia
[IACP 707]

Triton XVI, Lot: 167. Estimate $3000. Sold for $7500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CIMMERIAN BOSPOROS, Theodoseia. Circa 395-390 BC. AR Trihemiobol (8mm, 0.82 g, 2h). Head of Athena left, wearing crested Attic helmet / Facing bucranium, fillets hanging from horns; ΘE-OΔ-[EΩ] around. Sidorenko & Shonov 15; Anokhin 933; Frolova, Frühe –; MacDonald –; HGC 7, –. VF, toned. Extremely rare, only two examples published (both in private collections).

From the Alex Shubs Collection.

An extremely rare issue from a city whose total coinage is very rare today. This issue was struck while the city was making preparations for the coming war against the Bosporan kingdom.

Theodoseia was a Milesian colony located on the eastern shore of the Cimmerian Bosporos (Crimea) in the 6th century BC. The city had a fine harbor, and its territories were particularly fertile, enabling it to flourish through regular grain shipments to Athens. Very little is known of the history of the city today. It appears to have been a rival of Pantipikaion from the 5th century, but it eventually was conquered by the Bosporan king Leukon I (389/8-349/8 BC) around 370 BC, who incorporated it into the Bosporan domain. Theodoseia issued a very rare silver and bronze coinage from the late 5th century, featuring the head of Athena on the obverse, and a bull’s head or star on the reverse. The issues appear to have been very sporadic and short, and generally came to an end with Leukon’s conquest, although the city was allowed to strike a fairly large bronze issue in the mid-3rd century BC.