War and peace. Symbolic elements on the early Lysimachus type staters from the west pontic cities. Spear and herald staff (Polybius, IV, 52)
War and peace. Symbolic elements on the early Lysimachus type staters from the west pontic cities. Spear and herald staff (Polybius, IV, 52)

Summary/Abstract: Examining the early series of the Lysimachus posthumous staters struck at the middle of the third century BC in the West Pontic Greek cities we noticed a novel iconographical detail: the absence of the spear from the inventory of the Athena’s attributes. This regards of course a restraint number of coins, all of them numismatic rarities. They appear with a certain regularity in several cities: Mesembria (staters with monograms ΛA and EΡ), Tomis (issues with monograms N and # ), Odessos (series with mintmarks # or H and the same monogram KOI) and Byzantion, issue 39, having monogram # on the reverse (years 247 245 BC). Except Byzantium (the single having an exclusive series of Lysimachus type staters), the issues without Athena’s spear are the first of this recently adopted new type in all the others cities. Each time (including Byzantium) there are obverse die links between them and the next issues, having spear on goddess shoulder. This situation reflects a sudden and simultaneous adoption of this iconographic detail, as a probable consequence of a certain political context and a top level political decision making, reflecting an alliance between Byzantium and the West Pontic Greek cities, at the beginning of the third Syrian war.

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