Silver Tetradrachm of Clazomenae (Klazomenai), Ionia, Turkey, 16.88 g.

Silver Tetradrachm of Clazomenae (Klazomenai), Ionia, Turkey, 16.88 g.

Clazomenae (Klazomenai), Ionia, Turkey

387-340 BCE

Obverse: Facing head of Apollo.

Reverse: Swan with spread wings to left.

Style/Period: Greek (ancient)

Klazomenai in Ionia on the western coast of Asia Minor was one of the first cities to issue silver coinage. The city was originally located on the mainland, but probably during the early fifth-century Ionian Revolt from the Persians it was moved to an island just off the coast, which Alexander the Great eventually connected to the mainland with a causeway. In 387 BCE Klazomenai and other cities in Asia were taken over by Persia, but the city continued to issue its own coins.
The obverse of this tetradrachm depicts the principal god of the city, Apollo. The near-facing head was influenced by Kimon's facing head of the nymph Arethusa on Syracusan coins of the late fifth century (see 93.007); the Klazomenian head has a similar fleshy face, large eyes and wild hair.
The swan on the obverse is both an attribute of Apollo and a pun on the name Klazomenai. According to myth, swans drew the chariot in which Apollo every year flew south from his winter home in the land of the Hyperboreans. But Klazomenai was also home to large numbers of swans, and it is thought that the verb klazo was used to describe the call of the wild birds.
-- Carol L. Lawton

Bibliography: C.M. Kraay, Archaic and Classical Greek Coins (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1976) 257-258.

Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased from Harlan Berk, 11-Nov-1991. Ex Perkins collection.

93.009

Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890

Greek, Apollo, swan, Clazomenae, Klazomenai, Ionia, Turkey