The Double Stellate Pattern on Dyrrhachium Staters

Triton XVI, Lot: 1635. Estimate $1000. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GREEK. Northern Greece. Lot of Five (5) AR Staters of Dyrrhachium in Illyria, circa 340-380 BC. All coins: Cow standing right, head lowered left, suckling calf / Double stellate pattern within dual linear border; Δ Y P around; below, club. Two have the cow facing left. F-VF, minor centering and porosity problems. LOT SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS. Five (5) coins in lot.

The designs of the staters of Korkyra as well as its colonies, Apollonia and Dyrrhachion, have been the subject of much numismatic speculation. Eckhel (Doctrina numorum veterum [Vienna, 1792/3], II:155) accepted the view of Laurentius Beger (Observationes Et Conjecturae In Numismata Quaedam Antiqua [Brandenburg, 1691]), who argued that the design represented the garden of Alkinöos, the mythical king of Phaiakia, described in detail by the poet Homer (Od. 7.112-133). Based on the assumption that mythical Phaiakia was the island of ancient Korkyra (mod. Corfu), and knowing that Korkyrans colonized both Apollonia and Dyrrhachion, Beger (and through him, Eckhel) concluded that the central elements were flowers and that the overall design must represent either the layout of the garden, or the doors leading to it.

Other numismatists argued that the central elements of the design were more star-like. While Böckh and Müller (in P. Gardner, "Floral patterns on Archaic Greek coins," NC 1881, p. 1) felt this to be the case, they considered the elements to be nothing more than a fortuitous series of random strokes. Friedlander and von Sallet (Das königliche Münzkabinett [Berlin, 1877], coins 72-75) viewed them as symbols of the Dioskouri. Proponents of either interpretation continue to argue their views (see Alfred Maier, "Die Silberprägung von Apollonia und Dyrrhachion," NZ 41 [1908], p. 2 and note 4 [garden]; Traité, Part II, Volume I, column 931 [garden]; Michael E. Marotta, "Dyrrachium: Rome's doorway to Greece," Celator [April 1997], pp. 6-7 [garden]; Gyula Petrányi, " Gardens of Alkinoos: fact or fiction? On the reverse pattern of the silver coins from Corcyra, Apollonia and Dyrrachium," Celator [November 1998], pp. 22-24 [Dioskouroi]).

Gardner (op. cit.) was convinced that the reverse design had a religious meaning, but was unconvinced that the symbols were either a garden layout, or stars. Instead, he favored a floral interpretation. He argued that this was indicated not only by their general shape, but in some particular instances by an intentional modification to make them appear more floral. Noting a similarity between the reverse types of Korkyran staters – the model for the staters of Apollonia and Dyrrhachion – and those of other Greek city-states, most notably Miletos and Kyrene, he argued that this was due to a common religious cult between them, since he believed that Greek coin types were primarily religious in origin. Arguing that the most probable deity was Apollo, Gardner concluded that the reference was to Apollo Aristaios or Nomios, a pastoral version of that god who was worshiped (among other places) both at Kyrene and throughout northern Greece and was known to be the protectors of flocks (cf. Pind. Pyth. 9.64-65).

Most recently, Nicolet-Pierre revisited the issue of the reverse design in her article on the archaic coinage of Korkyra ("À props du monnayage archaïque de Corcyre," SNR 88 (2009), pp. 2-3), and offered a novel interpretation. Noting a passage of Thucydides (3.70.4) in which that author cited the existence on the island of a sacred precinct (temenos) and dedicated to Zeus and Alkinöos, she suggested that the reverse design might have been inspired by this, and not Homer's garden of Alkinöos.

Since Apollonia and Dyrrhachion, as colonies of Korkyra, employed that island's designs in their own coinage, it is necessary to explain why Korkyra used such symbols on its coinage. The archaic staters of Korkyra are the first issues to employ a cow standing right (or left), suckling its calf on the obverse. (BMC 1-8 [for cow right]; BMC 9-16 [for cow left]). A similar obverse design appears on the coinage of Karystos in Euboia and, according to Plutarch (Quaest. Graec.), Korkyra was settled by Euboians, whose coinage symbol was a bovine. Several dedications in the form of a bronze bull are attested for the Korkyrans and the island's patron god was Apollo.

The reverse design of the archaic staters consists of a pair of incuse punches, consisting of stars (BMC 1 and pl. XXI, 1). That the symbol was a star is certain, as fractions of this series and subsequent issues with a star on the obverse make plain. One stater (BMC 10 and pl. XXI, 2), puts the star design in a more abstract arrangement, becoming the precursor of the reverse design type employed in later stater issues (BMC 39 and pl. XXI, 9). The striking lines formed by the incuse punches are retained in the later design as lines of the frame. Thus, the staters of Apollonia, Dyrhachion, and Korkyra demonstrate a meticulous progressive recopying of an archaic coin type that continued under its colonies, and not an allusion to a possible Homeric past.