Stamp_&_Coin_Mart_2016_01_

128 JANUARY 2016 http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk

T

his month we visit the

Greek island of Lesbos

close to the modern

Turkish coast which

was formerly part of

the Roman province of Asia.

During the second and third

centuries AD, cities in the Roman

provinces increasingly depicted local

historical or mythological citizens in

portrait form on their coinage. At

this period there was great interest

amongst historians in local history,

and knowledge of these famous

forebears was an important aspect

of a cultured discourse. The famous

citizens chosen by cities very often

included poets, philosophers and

statesmen. More than one city might

claim a local ‘hero’, particularly if

they lived in the ancient past. Homer,

for example, was claimed by at least

eight cities as a citizen.

Sappho, who is the subject of the

coin discussed here, was claimed by

both Mytilene and Eresus (both cities

of the island of Lesbos) and appeared

on their coins.

Mytilene used a series of local

famous citizens from the distant

past on its coins, including Sappho,

the poet Alceaus and the historian

Theophanes, as well as from its more

recent past. Examples of this include

a number of local distinguished

citizens who we know only from

their depiction of the coins – Dada,

Pancratides and Nausicaa. There

are also other, unnamed portraits,

which are presumably of other

local citizens. The series includes

both male and female portraits and

celebrates the citizens of Mytilene

that were famous beyond the island

and those that held a special place in

the affections of the city.

This copper alloy coin was struck

at Mytilene on the island of Lesbos in

the eastern Aegean. Coins were issued

on the island at both Mytilene and

its great rival Methymna as well as

the smaller towns of Antissa, Eresus

and Pyrrha. Our example depicts on

A poetic piece

The use of coins as visual conveyors of national or civic identity has a long history which spans at last

two millennia, writes Richard Kelleher, as he examines another item from the Department of Coins and

Medals at the British Museum

British Museum

EXCLUSIVE Inside the British Museum Coins and Medals Department

C. Howgego, V. Heuchert, and A.

Burnett (Ed), Coinage and Identity

in the Roman Provinces (Oxford

University Press 2005)

K. Butcher, Roman Provincial

Coins: An Introduction to the Greek

Imperials (Seaby, London 1988)

W. Wroth, A Catalogue of the

Greek Coins in the British

Museum. Greek Coins of Troas,

Aeolis and Lesbos (British

Museum, London 1894).

C. Howgego, V. Heuchert, and A.

FURTHER

READING

This piece came to the Museum

as part of the Bank of England loan

of 1865 which expressed the wish

to make it accessible to the general

public. This remained as a separate

Collection until 1877 when the Bank

Directors decided it would be more

useful to the museum and the public

if incorporated into the national

collection. The Bank of England

collection was therefore presented

to the British Museum in 1877, any

duplicates being sold to create a

coins and medals purchase fund.

its obverse the head of Sappho facing

right with the Greek inscription for

her name ΨΑΠΦΟ. On the reverse is

a lyre, which seems to be an emblem

of the poetess, and the inscription

MVTIΛH NAIΩN – of (the people

of ) Mytilene.

Sappho was a lyric poet who lived

on the island in the second half of

the seventh century BC and although

only one complete poem and various

fragments of Sappho’s work survive (in

quotations from other writers or on

papyrus), the subject matter is varied.

It includes hymns to deities as well as

personal concerns such as the safety of

her brother or her daughter Cleis.

Sappho is most famous in modern

times, however, for the references

in her poetry to the love between

women or girls. Sappho was a hugely

accomplished poet who, from references

in her poems, seems to have gathered

a circle of followers. References to

absence and partings suggest that

many of these followers were only

part of the group for a short while

before marriage. There are many

parallels with similar male groupings

where singers and poets praise each

other in erotic terms. Sappho’s group

invoked Aphrodite, the Graces and

the Muses, the embodiments of love,

beauty and poetry.

The coin shows poet

Sappho and was struck

at Mytilene on the

island of Lesbos in the

eastern Aegean

INTERACTIVE

GALLERIES

Tap the coin to

flip it over

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