the gaza 1960s hoard: an assemblage of archaic greek coins

THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETYNEW YORK

2015

Second Series, continuing The American Numismatic Society Museum Notes

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NUMISMATICS

27

© 2015 The American Numismatic Society

ISSN: 0078-2781ISBN 978-0-89722-343-0

Printed in China

Contents

Editorial Committee v

Fernando López Sánchez and Daniel Gómez Castro. The Gaza 1960s Hoard: An Assemblage of Archaic Greek Coins 1

Kenneth Sheedy, Damian B. Gore, and Matthew Ponting. The Bronze Issues of the Athenian General Timotheus: Evaluating the Evidence of Polyaenus’s Stratagemata 9

Catharine C. Lorber. A Hoard of Tetradrachms of Alexander III and Philip III, November 2003 29

Lloyd W. H. Taylor. From Triparadeisos to Ipsos: Seleukos I Nikator’s Uncertain Mint 6A in Babylonia 41

Eric Carlen. The Final Phase Coinage of ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ Tetradrachms Dated According to an Uncertain Era 99

Yoav Farhi. Cleopatra in Gaza(?): A Hitherto Unpublished Coin Type from Gaza and the First Year of Coinage in Gaza under Roman Rule 141

Craig A. Harvey. A Possible Hoard of Judaean and Nabataean Coins from Cyprus 155

Clive Stannard, GisÈle Gentric, Jean-Albert Chevillon, and Jean-Claude Richard Ralite. Coins of the Pompeian Pseudomint and of the Italo-Baetican Series from Southern France 179

Martin Beckmann. The Function of the Attribute of Liberalitas and its use in the Congiarium 189

Ceren Ünal. The “Tralleis Hoard” and the Reflection of the Iconoclastic Idea in Byzantine Coin Iconography 199

Irakli Paghava and George Janjgava. Revising Georgian-Sasanian Coinage: A New (Third) Type Drama of Gurgen 207

Aram Vardanyan. Seeking Political Compromise: The Dulafid Governors of Jibāl and their Coinage 219

Konstantin Kravtsov and Olga Stepanova. An Ottoman Coin with the Countermarked Portrait of Carl XII from the Hermitage Collection 237

Review Article 245

American Journal of Numismatics

John W. AdamsBoston, Massachusetts

Jere L. BacharachUniversity of Washington

Gilles BransbourgAmerican Numismatic Society

Andrew BurnettBritish Museum

Evridiki GeorganteliHarvard University

Kenneth W. HarlTulane University

Paul T. KeyserIBM T. J. Watson Research Center

John M. KleebergNew York, New York

John H. KrollOxford, England

Eric P. NewmanSt. Louis, Missouri

Ira RezakStony Brook, New York

Stephen K. ScherNew York, New York

Stuart D. SearsWestport, Massachusetts

Peter van AlfenAmerican Numismatic Society

Bernhard WeisserMünzkabinettStaatliche Museen zu Berlin

Editorial Committee

Andrew R. Meadows Editor

Oliver D. Hoover Managing Editor

1

AJN Second Series 27 (2015) pp. 1–8© 2015 The American Numismatic Society

The Gaza 1960s Hoard:An Assemblage of Archaic Greek Coins

Plates 1–5 Fernando López Sánchez* and Daniel Gómez Castro**

The group of 29 Greek coins presented here were discovered under the sea off the Gaza Strip at the beginning of the 1960s. Their former owners, the Al-Tarazi family, allowed the authors to publish them before they were sold. The hoard represents a very close parallel to the famous Asyut Hoard (IGCH 1644) and adds to our understanding of the coinages of the late Archaic period.

Circumstances of DiscoveryOn March 2, 2005, Archbishop Alexios of the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, the Patriarchal Representative of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, handed over the collection of Greek coins of Khader Joseph Tarazi (born April 24, 1924) to his legitimate descendants Joseph Khader Al-Tarazi (born December 14, 1952), Dawaoud Khader Al-Tarazi (born April 5, 1956), and Rawia Khader Tarazi (born April 1, 1961). This collection, consisting of 29 ancient Greek and Lycian coins, was discovered in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza Strip during the early 1960s, and soon after ended up in the possession of Khader Joseph Tarazi, a prominent Christian jeweller from Gaza, who was interested in the antiques and old coins of the region. Khader Joseph Tarazi then left his collection in the church

* Wolfson College, Oxford, UK.** Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

2 Fernando López Sánchez and Daniel Gómez Castro

lockers of the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza on December 5, 1967, given the state of insecurity created by the Arab-Israeli War of that year. The 29 coins were subsequently kept in one box, in accordance with Khader Joseph Tarazi’s assertion that they formed part of a single hoard. Nevertheless, the assemblage was not complete at the time of writing: two of the coins (tridrachms of Delphi) are missing as they were sold by the owner before the others were officially released by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate at the beginning of 2005 (Pl. 1). Thanks to the exemplary care and foresight of the Tarazi family, we were able to study the 29 Greek and Lycian coins that make up the Gaza hoard. In January 2016 the 27 remaining coins of this hoard were offered and sold at auction.1

CatalogueDerrones (4)

Dodecadrachms

Obverse: Hermes and bull(s) drawing cart(?) right, ΔΕΡPΟ.Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square.

1. 31 mm 35.02 g Tzamalis 2012: Em. I, Group B, nos. 14–15.; same obverse die as 14 (Asyut 31); Kraay 1976: No. 488. (Pl. 2, 1).

2. 35 × 32 mm 36.95 g As last. (Pl. 2, 2).

Decadrachms

Obverse: Two bulls left, drawing cart, ΔΕΡΟΝΙΚΟ[Ν].Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square.

3. 24 × 25 mm 30.85 g Tzamalis 2012: Em. I, Group A, nos. 5–11; same obverse die as 7l; cf. Asyut 33; Kraay 1976: No. 487. (Pl. 2, 3).

4. 30 × 26 mm 27.84 g As last. (Pl. 2, 4).

Ichnae (2)

Octadrachms

Obverse: Male youth, with two bulls to the left, [IXNAION].Reverse: Wheel in incuse square.

5. 30 × 25 mm 26.60 g cf. Wartenberg 2015: O1 (same die)?; Asyut 40– 43 (490–480 bc). (Pl. 2, 5).

6. 26 mm 26.22 g Same obverse die as 5. (Pl. 2, 6).

1 Triton XIX, 5 January 2016, 82, sold as a single lot under “The Ghazzat Hoard”. The entry in the CNG catalogue provides support for the provenance. It thanks the “Archbishop Alexios of St. Porphyrius Church in Gaza, in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, for searching the Church archives and providing supporting documentation and photographs.”

The Gaza 1960s Hoard: A Assemblage of Archaic Greek Coins 3

Argilos (3)

Tetradrachms

Obverse: Pegasus walking quietly to the right on a dotted ground line. Double, thickly lined wing springs from the dotted breast, curving towards the top. The mane is rendered in dense lines and the eye is round.

Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square, coarsely granulated.

7. 25 × 21 mm 11.36 g Asyut -; Liampi 2005: No. 32, pl. 8, Period IV (c. 495–c. 478/7 bc). (Pl. 3, 7).

8. 23 × 25 mm 9.81 g As last. (Pl. 3, 8).

Obverse: Pegasus walking left, head to left, standing on a ground line consisting of a dotted line framed by two plain lines. The neck has a vertical furrow, the muzzle is bridled. Three large pellets in the field, one below Pegasus’s muzzle, one beneath the belly and a third beneath the wing.

Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square, coarsely granulated.

9. 24 × 23 mm 11.48 g Asyut 50, pl. 4 (510–480 bc); Liampi 2005: Pl. 9, Period IV (c. 495–c. 478/7 bc). (Pl. 3, 9).

Uncertain Thraco-Macedonian Tribe (Orescii?) (1)

Stater

Obverse: Centaur right, holding nymph to left. Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square resembling a swastika.

10. 20 mm 7.56 g Asyut 84–86 (510–480 bc). (Pl. 3, 10).

Abdera (1)

Octadrachm

Obverse: ZA and rosette beneath foreleg of griffin sitting right; massive, sturdy proportions and vigorous, skilful treatment throughout; higher relief; the head drawn back and jaws widely opened with tongue projected; two spiral curls to side of the neck, but no comb, possibly no base, dotted border.

Reverse: Large quadripartite square, with rough uneven surfaces between heavy lines.

11. 28 mm 27.55 g Asyut 134 (500–480 bc); May 1966: No. 40, pl. 3, Period II, Group XX (520/15–492 bc). (Pl. 3, 11).


Acanthus (3)

Tetradachms

Obverse: Lion right on bull left, head reversed, in exergue floral symbol. Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square.

12. 25 × 26 mm 13.37 g Asyut 173–176 (510–480 bc); Kraay 1976: No. 455 (c. 490 bc). (Pl. 3, 13).

Obverse: Lion right on bull to the left, head up, in exergue floral symbol and two dots.

Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square.

13. 36 × 27 mm 15.75 g Asyut 185–186 (510–480 bc). (Pl. 3, 14).

Obverse: Lion right on bull, head down; in exergue, floral symbol and two dots. Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square.

14. 25 mm 11.89 g Asyut 189 (510–480 bc). (Pl. 4, 15).

Scione (1)

Tetradrachm

Obverse: Lion right on stag right. Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square.

15. 25 mm 15.02 g cf. Cahn 1973: No. 1 var.; Asyut 192–193 (c. 500 bc); Kraay 1976: No. 452 var. (c. 530 bc). (Pl. 4, 15).

Aeneia (1)

Tetradrachm

Obverse: Aeneas holding spear and Anchises, and Creusa holding Ascanius right; to left, ram’s head, AIN retrograde.

Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square.

16. 24 × 25 mm 13.47 g Asyut 194 (490–480 bc); Kraay 1976: No. 469 (c. 500 bc). (Pl. 4, 16).

Leucas (1)

StaterObverse: Pegasus left, below Λ. Reverse: Head of Athena right. Stater.

17. 18 × 18 mm 6.87 g Asyut 238 (490–480 bc); Kraay 1976: No. 227 (c. 490 bc). (Pl. 4, 17).


Delphi (4)

Tridrachms

Obverse: Two ram’s-headed rhyta and two dolphins above, ΔΑΛΦΙΚΟΝ.Reverse: “Coffered ceiling” decorated with dolphins.

18. 26 × 24 mm 15.97 g Asyut 239–245 (485–475 bc); Kraay 1976: No. 413 var. (c. 475 bc). (Pl. 4, 18).

19. 23 mm 15.65 g As last. (Pl. 4, 19). 20. 26 mm 14.90 g As last. (Pl. 4, 20). 21. 27 mm 15.10 g As last. (Pl. 4, 21).

Athens: Late Archaic Style (5)

Tetradrachms

Obverse: Head of Athena to the right in attic helmet. Square heads, carefully worked detail.

Reverse: Owl to the right; to the left, olive sprig and long stems splaying outwards, ΑΘΕ.

22. 20 mm 15.66 g Asyut 328–348, pl. 17, Group IV (500/490–482 bc); Seltman 1924: Group G, M A103–A184, pls. 7–12 and A347–A271, pls. 16–18 (506–490 bc). (Pl. 5, 22).

23. 20 mm 16.55 g As last. (Pl. 5, 23). 24. 20 mm 15.05 g As last. (Pl. 5, 24). 25. 21 mm 14.93 g As last. (Pl. 5, 25). 26. 20 mm 14.89 g As last. (Pl. 5, 26).

Athens: Classical Style (1)

As preceding, but on the obverse the hair is drawn across the forehead in parallel curves. Different, more classical style.

27. 24 mm 12.51 g Svoronos 1923–1926: Pls. 10, 1–18 and 11, 1–16 (449– 429 bc); Kraay 1976: No. 198 (c. 450 bc). (Pl. 5, 27).

Lycia: Kuprlli (1)

Stater

Obverse: Boar walking left, head down.Reverse: Triskeles with all three legs ending in ducks’ heads in dotted border in

incuse square, KOP/R-[LLE?].

28. 18 mm 9.0 g Vismara 1989: Pl. 12, 107? (485–440 bc); Kraay 1976: No. 984 var. (c. 460 bc). (Pl. 5, 28).


Cyrene (1)

Tetradrachm

Obverse: Lion’s head right; in front, silphium plant with five umbels and three pairs of leaves, below, fruit; all within circular dotted border.

Reverse: Eagle’s head left; in lower left, turtle; all within square incuse with dotted border.

29. 22 mm 15.36 g Asyut 819–822 (495/90–475 bc); Kraay 1976: No. 1068 var. (c. 500 bc). (Pl. 5, 29).

Commentary on the CatalogueThe majority of the coins clearly belong to the end of the sixth century and to the first quarter of the fifth century bc in terms of both chronology and art. Sixteen of the coins in the hoard were struck in the Thraco-Macedonian region, while there is one specimen in the hoard from Leucas, a colony of Corinth, and four coins from Delphi.2 Athens is represented by six coins, five Archaic and one Classical, and Lycia and Cyrenaica are represented by one coin each. All the coins in the Gaza hoard share a porous surface typical of silver that has been submerged in salt water for a long time, with the result that the weights of the coins are all significantly lower than expected. However—and despite the diversity of the coins and the uncertainty about whether this assemblage was part of a larger hoard or not—its composition does present some similarities to other hoards already studied in the numismatic literature of Greece, the Middle East, and Egypt. It is, however, the Asyut hoard (IGCH 1644), discovered in 1969–1970 and painstakingly studied by M. J. Price and N. Waggoner in 1975, consisting of 870 mostly Greek coins—out of an assumed 900 original pieces—with which the Gaza assemblage shares the most striking similarities.3 As such the Asyut hoard represents the most appropriate basis for the study of the Gaza hoard.

Five of the six Athenian tetradrachms contained in the Gaza hoard are dated by Price and Waggoner to between 500/490 and 482 bc, suggesting a date around this time for the entire hoard. The sixth Athenian coin is a clear intrusion belonging to a later period (the later half of the fifth century bc) and appears to be unrelated to the main body of the assemblage. In addition, 22 other coins in the Gaza hoard are also dated by a number of numismatists to circa 510–475 bc. The only possible exception is the silver stater, minted in Lycia circa 480/75– 440 (?) bc and depicting on its obverse a boar walking to the left with its head down, and on the reverse a triskeles with all three legs ending in duck heads. Thus, and if the chronological indications suggested by the main core of the hoard (27

2 Two of them, coins 20 and 21, were already sold by the owner.3 Price and Waggoner 1975; Flament 2007: 165–167 for the different views considering

this hoard.


or 28 coins out of 29 composing the assemblage) are to be considered reasonable, then a terminus post quem for its deposit may be established with some degree of accuracy as circa 480–475 bc, with only one or two additions or intrusions produced during the next years.

Persian or Athenian Influences?In the Gaza hoard, apart from the four Derrones coins (two dodecadrachms and two decadrachms) and the stater whose type can be attributed to an uncertain Balkan tribe (the Orescii?), the most notable coins in relation to the Chalcidian and Thraco-Macedonian regions are the two octadrachms from Ichnae and the three tetradrachms linked to Argilos. If we add to these all of the North Greek coins in the hoard such as the one octadrachm from Abdera, the three tetradrachms from Acanthus, and the tetradrachms from Scione and Aeneia, that makes a total of 16 specimens, more than 50% of the total. Chalcidian and Thraco-Macedonian coin issues such as those contained in the Gaza hoard are still not fully understood despite a number of recent die studies. The general assumption, taken for granted by Kraay (1976), is that the Persian invasions of the Balkans in the period 514/13–479 bc must be considered the motive for the majority of the Macedonian, Thracian, and Chalcidian coin issues. On this reconstruction, many of the coins produced during the years 513–479 bc would have been used by the Persians to service the manifold needs of their important military machine. However, the fact that Thraco-Macedonian coins are found almost exclusively in regions that were part of the Persian Empire does not necessarily prove that such coins were always used as part of the tribute paid to the Great King.4 On the contrary, it seems more plausible, as Kraay himself admits, to consider the dissemination of many of these Balkan issues in a post-war period, i.e., immediately after the Graeco-Persian Wars of 490–480/79. All the Athenian and Balkan coins, as well as the Leucas stater and the two tridrachms from Delphi that form part of the Gaza hoard are in no way out of place if the hoard is viewed from a more Athenian-centred perspective rather than from a Persian one. Neither does the Lycian stater contradict such an Athenian perspective on the Gaza hoard. In this regard, the Elmalı hoard, also known as the “Decadrachm Hoard” (CH 8.48), provides a point of comparison: Out of 2,000 coins believed to have formed part of that assemblage originally there were no fewer than 970 from Lycia,5 and has led to the interpretation of the hoard in relation to Athenian activity during the pentekontaetia rather than to an earlier period.6

4 Kraay 1976: 131–132; 139, 323–324.5 Flament 2007: 195; Spier 1987: 29.6 It can be considered here the foundation of the Delian League and the Athenian

offensive in Cyprus and Byzantium in 478 bc. Mattingly 1989: 63. See also Spier 1987: 37; Briant 1996: 577.


Almost all the coins of the Gaza hoard seem nonetheless to share a broadly similar chronology. If we link them to the years 510–475 bc, which seems the most reasonable thing to do, it can be considered one of the very few Greek hoards to survive from this poorly documented period of Mediterranean history.

AcknowledgementsThis article has been written thanks to the generosity and financial support of Khalil Tarazi, owner of all the coins presented in our study. We are obliged to Dr. Sophia Zoumbaki, Senior researcher at the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens, who helped to the presentation of a preliminary draft of this paper at the Institute for Greek and Roman Antiquity (KERA) on February 10, 2014.

ReferencesBriant, P. 1996. Histoire de l’empire perse. De Cyrus à Alexandre. Paris.Cahn, H. A. 1973. Skione—Stagira—Akanthos. In Zur griechischen Kunst. Hansjörg

Bloesch zum sechzigsten Geburtstag am 5. Juli 1972, edited by H. P. Isler, pp. 7–13. Beiheft zur Halbjahresschrift Antike Kunst 9. Bern.

Flament, Ch. 2007. Le monnayage en argent d’Athènes: de l’époque archaïque à l’époque hellénistique (c. 550–c. 40 av. J.-C.). Louvain.

Kraay, C. M. 1976. Archaic and classical Greek coins. London.Liampi, K. 2005. Argilos. A historical and numismatic study. Athens.May, J. M. F. 1966. The coinage of Abdera (540–345 B.C.). Royal Numismatic Society

Special Publication 3. London. Mattingly, H. B. 1989. The Jordan hoard (IGCH 1482) and Kimon’s last campaign.

In Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Numismatics, September 1986, edited by I. Carradice et al., pp. 59–64. London.

Price, M. and N. Waggoner. 1975. Archaic Greek coinage: The Asyut hoard. London.Spier, J. 1987. Lycian coins in the ‘Decadrachm hoard.’ In Coinage and administration

in the Athenian and Persian empires, edited by I. Carradice, pp. 29–42. BAR International Series 343. Oxford.

Svoronos, J. N. 1923–1926. Les monnaies d’Athènes, edited by B. Pick. Munich.Tzamalis, A. R. 2012. Les ethné de la région «Thraco-Macédonienne». Etude

d’histoire et de numismatique (fin du VIe–Ve siècle). PhD thesis, Université Paris IV–Sorbonne.

Vismara, N. 1989. Monetazione arcaica della Lycia II. La collezione Winsemann Falghera. Milan.

Wartenberg, U. 2015. Thraco-Macedonian bullion coinage in the fith century bc: The case of Ichnai. In ΚΑΙΡΟΣ. Contributions to numismatics in honor of Basil Demetriadi, edited by U. Wartenberg and M. Amandry, pp. 347–364. New York.

Plates

Plate 1

The Gaza 1960s Hoard

Plate 2


1 2 3

4 5 6

Plate 3


7 8 9 10

11 12 13

Plate 4


14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21

Plate 5


22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29

the gaza 1960s hoard: an assemblage of archaic greek coins

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