HELLENISTIC GREECE - KINGDOM OF MACEDON (800's - 146 BC)
THESSALIAN LEAGUE (374 - 353 BC; 196 - 146 BC)- ANCIENT THESSALY
SILVER DOUBLE VICTORIATUS COIN CERTIFIED BY NGC MINT STATE *
STRIKE: 5/5
SURFACE:4/5
OBV: HEAD OF ZEUS RIGHT CROWNED WITH A WREATH OF OAK; MONOGRAM LEFT BEHIND HEAD.
REV: FULL STANDING FIGURE OF ATHENA ITONIA (THE THESSALIAN PALLAS ATHENA) RIGHT ADVANCING BRANDISHING SPEAR AND HOLDING SHIELD; LEGEND BEFORE AND AFTER ATHENA "THESSA", "LON"; MAGISTRATES NAMES ABOVE LINE OF SPEAR AND IN EXERGUE.
THE THESSALIAN LEAGUE, KNOWN FOR ITS FINE CAVALRY AND INDEPENDENT SPIRIT, WAS A LOOSE CONFEDERACY OF SEVERAL CITY STATES IN NORTHERN GREECE. THE LEAGUE WAS FOUNDED BY THE TYRANT JASON OF PHERAE IN 374 BC. JASON WAS ASSASINATED BEFORE HIS PLANS TO CONQUER THE REST OF GREECE UNFOLDED.
IN 353 BC, THESSALY WAS INCORPORATED INTO THE MACEDONIAN KINGDOM OF PHILIP II , FATHER OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. ALEXANDER'S THESSALIAN CAVALRY WAS OF GREAT RENOWN AND CONSIDERED THE BEST IN THE WORLD. THESSALY REMAINED A PART OF MACEDON UNTIL THE COMING OF THE ROMANS.
IN 197 B.C., THE ROMAN GENERAL TITUS QUINCTIUS FLAMININUS DEFEATED PHILIP V OF MACEDON IN BATTLE, AND THE GREEKS PROCLAIMED THEIR FREEDOM AT CORINTH.
THE LEAGUE WAS RENEWED IN 196 BC, AND TO CELEBRATE THEIR NEW FREEDOM, COINAGES FROM THE TEMPORARILY AUTONOMOUS GREEK CITIES WERE MINTED, THIS SILVER THESSALIAN LEAGUE COIN AMONG THEM, PLACING ITS ACTUAL DATE AROUND THAT TIME. IN 146 BC, THESSALY WAS INCORPORATED INTO THE ROMAN PROVINCE OF MACEDONIA.
ATHENA ITONIA, NAMED FOR THE TOWN AND CULT CENTER OF ITON, WAS WIDELY WORSHIPPED IN THESSALY AND CAME TO BE ASSOCIATED IN SOME MYSTICAL WAY WITH BOTH HADES, GOD OF THE LOWER WORLD, AND ZEUS. A COLLOSAL STATUE OF ATHENA PROMACHOS (ATHENA THE FIGHTER) BY THE SCULPTOR PHEIDIAS, STOOD ON THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS, DEPICTED IN THE VERY SAME POSE AS ON THIS COIN.
COIN CONTAINS 6.11 GRAMS OF SILVER
COIN MEASURES 23-25 MM IN DIAMETER
MINTED AT LARISSA
