★ Themistokles, Athen's most famous citizen ★

ATTICA. Athens. Pseudo-autonomous issue. Assarion (Bronze, 21 mm, 5.24 g, 8 h), circa 145/55-175 AD. Bust of Athena to right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet. Rev. [A]ΘΗΝΑΙΩN Themistokles standing right on galley, holding wreath in his right hand and trophy over his left shoulder. Kroll 374. Svoronos, pl. 97, 27. A very rare and interesting issue showing Athen's most famous citizen. Edge split and with a flan fault on the obverse, otherwise, fine.

While Athens is best known for its long-lived and influential silver tetradrachms, the city also produced a fascinating bronze coinage in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. The obverse of these coins invariably shows Athena on the obverse rather than the reigning emperor, most likely a conscious choice meant to hearken back to the coinage of old and to enphasize the autonomy of the city. The reverses, on the other hand, show a surprising variety of designs drawn from Athens' mythological and real past. Thus, we encounter the contest between Athena and Poseidon, Theseus and the Minotaur, Miltiades with Persian captives, and so on.

On the present piece, the reverse shows the great Athenian statesman, Themistokles, who lived in the 5th century BC. It was Themistokles who urged the Athenians to strengthen their fleet in the 490s BC, a wise decision which would save Greece from conquest by the Persians during the second Persian invasion in 480-479 BC. The pinnacle of his generalship was no doubt the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, in which he soundly defeated the Persian fleet with a carefully laid trap, thus crippling the latter's war effort.

The prestige gained from his victories would prove to be his undoing, however, and his fellow citizens voted to ostracize him in the late 470s BC. In an ironic turn of events, the Athenian statesman eventually found refuge at the Persian court, and he was given several cities in Asia Minor to rule (Magnesia ad Maeandrum, Myus, Lampsakos, Perkote and Palaiskepsis). The Athenians later saw fit to rehabilitate Themistokles' reputation and our coin fittingly shows him as a victorious general standing aboard a ship.