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ReviewAuthor(s): Charles EdsonReview by: Charles EdsonSource: Classical Philology, Vol. 52, No. 4 (Oct., 1957), pp. 280-281Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/265714Accessed: 05-05-2015 08:44 UTC

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2/3

280 BOOK

REVIEWS

1600 Illyrians10;

and, (2)

immediately after

that

battle Antigonus

was forced

to

return

post

haste

to

Macedonia

to confront

a

massive

Illyrian invasion.1'

The

author

follows

the

general

view in holding

these

Illyrians

to be Dardanians.12

But

Polybius

does

not say this, and,

although

the Dar-

danians

were of Illyrian

stock,

ancient

authors sharply

distinguish

them from the

Illyrians proper.

CHARLES

EDSON

University

of Wisconsin

Macedonian

Regal

Coinage

to 413 B.C.

By

DORIS RAYMOND.

("Numismatic Notes

and Monographs,"

No.

126.)

New York:

American Numismatic

Society, 1953.

Pp.

xii+170-+15

pls. $4.50.

In

this

monograph,

which lacks index

and bibliography,

Dr.

Raymond examines

the issues

of the first two Macedonian

kings to

strike coins and has

subjected

those issues to a

detailed

analysis. This

reviewer

is not

qualified

to

judge

the

author's

performance

from

the

technical

numismatic point of view, but such a

distinguished specialist

as J. M.

F.

May

has expressed

acknowledgment.'

For the

student of Macedonian

history,

there

are some valuable

observations. The

suggestion that

the ligatured

delta-epsilon

monogram on the early

goat staters

stands

for Edessa in retrograde

s

most interesting

and must receive

very serious

consider-

ation.2 If

correct,

it would demonstrate

that the earliest Argead coinage was

struck

in

the name of

an urban

community

and thus would be

of the

same

type

as

that

of

the Letaians

and Ichnaians.

The author's

conclusion

that

the

Bisaltic coinage

was

continued

in Alexander's name,

not

merely

"copied" by him,

has important impli-

10. Pol. 2. 65. 4.

P. does not call the Pharian

an

"ally"

of Antigonus.

Actually Demetrius' relationship

to the Mace-

donian

king can

have been much the same

as that of the

"pirate"

Ameinias the

Phocian to Antigonus

Gonatas. See

W. W. Tarn,

Antigonos

Gonatas

(Oxford,

1913),

pp. 86,

172, and 271.

11. Pol. 2. 70.

1,

4-6.

12.

P. 46.

1. Numismiatic

Chronicle, 6th

ser.,

XIlI

(1953),

165-70.

2. P. 49.

cations.3

And the observation

that "before

the

death

of Alexander

... the once

rich

and

varied

Macedonian

coinage" dwindled

"to

a mere trickle

of rather

carelessly

struck light

tetraobols,

equal in weight

to

Attic triobols"4

is significant.

The author

suggests

that "this phenomenon was

the

result of

co-operation

between

Alexander

and the

Athenians,

the cause

of which

remains

obscure."'5

But

there is sufficient

evidence

that

Alexander

I perished by

as-

sassination,6

and

this fact suggests

a period

of disturbance at and after

his death.

The

evident

care

which the

author has

devoted to the

examination

of the

coins

themselves deserves recognition. But most

unfortunately

indeed

it is

not at all

matched by her

handling

of the

other

evidence.

The literary

and

epigraphic

sources

for sixth

and fifth

century

Mace-

donia are notoriously

sparse.

There

is

therefore all the

more reason

that,

in a

study of

this kind, they

should

be most

carefully considered,

for

ancient coins

only

contribute

their meaning

when

associated

with the

other

evidence. The

author's

knowledge of the ancient geography of the

area

is at

best vague.7

The careless

and

superficial

perusal of

ancient authors

produces

serious

error,8

and insufficient

3. P. 110.

4. 149. See

also pp. 129-35.

5. P. 150.

6.

Curt. 6.

11.

26: quis

proavum

huius (i.e.,

of

Alexander

the

Great)

Alexandrum, quis

deinde Archelaum, quis

Per-

diccan occisos

tdtus est?

The arbitrary rearrangement

of

this

highly

important passage by

Bardon in

the

"Collection

Bud61"

s

most unfortunate.

7. The author asserts (p. 1), "Geyer and Hoffman ... have

done

all

that

is

possible [I]

with the early history,

topo-

graphy

and

ethnology

of the area." Actually

these studies

are

hardly

in

their

infancy.

It

would

far

exceed

the limits

of a

review

to

point

out all the confusions

and

errors in the

author's treatment

of

matters

geographical.

8.

A

single

characteristic instance may

be examined.

On

p. 8 the author adduces

Strabo 7. 7 (p.

449 Meineke)

as

the

aulthority

for

her

statement "that

the

territory

around

Lynkos,

Pelagonia,

Orestis

and Elimeia (i.e., upper

Mace-

donia)

was also

called

'free' Macedonia,

to

indicate the area

ruled by the Macedonian kings

when

they

first

appeared

on

the uworld

tage"

(italics

mine).

This

interpretation

is

the basis

for

the

"hypothesis"

hazarded

on

p.

16.

What S.

actually

says

is: "And moreover

the

region

around

Lyncus

and

Pelagonia

and

Orestis and

Elimeia

they

called

Upper

Macedonia; some later also called it 'free"' (oE8'

ii?spov

xac

t

euO6pav).

The

author

has not noted

the

temporal

adverb.

By

the

adjective

"free"

Strabo

is

referring

to

the

juridical

status

of

this area

in

the

late

second

and

flrst

centuries B.c.

Compare

Caes.

BC 3.

34.

3-4:

Macedo-

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3/3

BOOK

REVIEWS

281

familiarity

with the

literary evidence,

or

perhaps simple oversight,

can lead to

unfounded assertion.9 Passages of vital

importance for her

main

argument

are

neglected.10Such an important premise as

her concept of the "tribal alliance" is

assumed rather than solidly

grounded

A

full

and adequate corpus

of the

Argead

coinage down to the reign

of Alexander

the Great is the most

important single

contribution which can be made to the

study of Macedonian

history. Dr. Ray-

mond seems to have

demonstrated

her

thorough competence in the techniques

of

specifically numismatic

investigation. If

she will acquirea similarly thoroughknowl-

edge of the nonnumismatic

evidence

for

early Macedonia, her future

studies in this

important subject will be

welcomed without

reserve.

CHARLES

EDSON

University of Wisconsin

A Third Century Hoard of Tetradrachms

from

Gordion. By

DOROTHY

HANNAH

Cox.

("Museum

Monographs.") Phila.

delphia:

The University

Museum,

Uni.

versity of

Pennsylvania, 1953.

Pp. v+

20+1

map+8 pls. $0.75.

niam... cuius

provinciae

ab ea parte

quae libera

appellabatur.

The

passage of S. is

without

relevance to the

situation of

Upper

Macedonia at the turn of

the

sixth

to

fifth

centuries.

At that time

the

upcountry

Macedonian

tribes

were

inde-

pendent under

their own

kings

and had no

direct

political

connection

with the

Argead

house.

9. So on p. 110, n. 8, we find the sentence: "There is no

justification for

the oft

repeated

statement that

'Alexander

subdued

the

Bisaltians

and

adopted

their coin

types."'

But

on

the

same page,

the

author notes

Alexander's

name

on a

"Bisaltic"

octodrachm.

Was the

coin then

struck in

the

king's

name but

not by

him? And

she has

forgotten

Thuc.

2. 99.

6: Lxpdti-axv

(i.e.,

Alexander

and

his

p

ni)

.

..

xol

BLamXrEav.

onceivably the

verb need

not

be

taken

in

the

extreme sense of

violent

military

conquest,

but it

must

at the

very least

indicate

that full

Macedonian

sovereignty

was

established

over the

Bisaltae.

10. So

on p. 148

the

author

can

confidently

and

without

discussion

adopt the

date 451

B.C. for the accession

of

Perdiccas

II. But

it is

very

relevant

indeed

that six

repu-

table Greek

historians,

including such writers

as

Theo-

pompus,

Hieronymus

of

Cardia, and

Philochorus,

none of

whom had an axe to grind, gave no less than five different

figures

for

the

duration of

Perdiccas'

reign, from

41

to

23

years See

Ath. 5.

217E

(FGrH, 154

Fl). Surely it

is

ap-

propriate

for

the-author

seriously to

consider this

striking

divergence.

This

is

an

admirable

publication

of

a

hoard of

114 silver

tetradrachms

found at

Gordion

in the

spring

of 1951

during

the

course of

the

excavations sponsored

by

the

University of Pennsylvania Museum. The

hoard

was buried in the

last

years

of the

third

century.

The text is

clearly presented

by the photo-offset process.

An

excellently

clear

sketch map (p. vi)

indicates

practically

all

the mints represented

in the

hoard,

which extend from Chalcis in

the

west

(No. 52)

to

Hecatompylus

or

Artocoana

(No. 92)

in

the east. The

plates

give

ex-

tremely

clear

photographs of both

obverse

and

reverse of

all

coins.

Two coins were struck in the name of

Philip III and there are no less than forty-

eight Alexanders. Demetrius I and Anti-

gonus II1 of Macedonia are represented,as

are Lysimachus,2 Prusias I

of Bithynia,

and Eumenes I and Attalus I of Perga-

mum. There are thirty-seven

coins of the

Seleucid

kings

from

Antiochus

I to

Anti-

ochus III, including five struck

by Hierax.

Two

coins of Perga in

Pamphylia, which

because of the context must be dated to

before 200

B.C.,

are a real novelty.

The author has well and carefully pre-

sented

the

material. Specialists in the

numismatics of the Hellenistic

period will

determine

whether or to what

degree the

larger conclusions she has drawn from this

evidence are

tenable. In any

case, the

prompt and accurate publication of this

coin

hoard

is a

very valuable contribution

to our

knowledge of the third

century.3

CHARLES EDSON

University of Wisconsin

The

Junior

Officersof the

Roman

Army in

the

Republican

Period: A

Study on

Social

Structure.By

JAAKKO

SUOLAHTI.

1.

There is no

decisive evidence

that Antigonus

III

ever struck

a silver

coinage.

2. The

attribution of

the coin struck

by Lysimachus

at

Amphipolis

(No.

56)

to "c.

323-281 B.C."

iS

a

slip. Lysi-

machus did not gain control of the town until 288

B.C.

3. The mint of

the

Alexander

struck by

Antigonus

I

(No. 51) cannot be

"Antioch-on-the-Orontes,"

for

that

city was not

founded

until after the

death of

Antigonus.

Presumably the author

means

Antigonea.

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