Gephyra (May 2006)
Contributions to Anatolian History and Numismatics 4-5
Abstract
Contributions to Anatolian History and Numismatics 4-5The first of the two essays shows that the reed stem and the fruit-filled cornucopia of the river god Meander with which he is again and again depicted on coins are not unspecificn ttributes but allude to myths and real events, with the banks of the Meander being the setting for the episodes of the metamorphosis of Ι-Calamos and Karpos into reed and fruit as well as for the making of the first reed aulos. The second essay looks into the patria traditions of the city of Apameia, which at the beginning of its ancient history was named Kelainai, but is called Dinar today. In conjunction with copious literary and epigraphic evidence, the coins struck in Apameia in Hellenistic and Imperial times enable recovery of large portions of local myths and of the religious identity of this Phrygian city. It can be shown that leading gods and heros as well as the myths about them are of Phrygian origin. In later times these indigenous traditions underwent Persian, Jewish and principally Greek influence and were partially transformed. The old patria traditions of Kelainai are mainly concerned with the water supply of the city located in a karst region exposed to earthquakes, which constandy gave rise to fears of the water supply's being severely or completely disrupted because of changes in the ground. In addition, there was also the risk of floodings, as elsewhere in Phrygia. The patria traditions of Marsyas, Midas, Kelainos, Poseidon, the landing of the Ark and those of the Great Mother, who adopted traits of the Persian water and river god Anahita, have to do with this possible and always dreaded abundance or dearth of water. Thanks to an impressive number of Phrygian inventors of musical instruments, playing techniques and compositions, Apameia stylised itself as a culturally significant city of music, names such as Hyagnis, Marsyas, Olympos and Lityerses playing an important role in this context. These Phrygian achievements were later contested by Greek traditions and ascribed to Greek gods. Some of the Phrygian musical heros were transformed into ridiculous and ignorant figures or barbarians blinded by hybris, so that the philanthropic spring demon and virtuoso aulos player Marsyas ended up as the cheeky, silly silen Marsyas, who rebelled against the divine world order. His maltreatment, which probably goes back to a Phrygian ritual meant to secure the supply of water, was reinterpreted as punishment for a recalcitrant barbarian's attitude towards Apollo and has served to date as a mythical-metaphoric image for a variety of messages. The Phrygian king Midas, who is reported as having founded and ruled Kelainai, was also exposed to ridicule because of his craving for gold and his donkey ears. Lityerses, the composer of the Phrygian reaper's song, was turned into a glutton and slaughterer of foreigners who was finally removed by Heracles. In Roman imperial times single mythologems of these new Greek traditions influenced also the patria myths of Kelainai. Towards the end of the Classical or beginning of the Hellenistic period, myths came into being which tried to construe a Greek origin of the city with the aid of a hero called Kelainos. Within the context of the foundation of the Hadrianic Panhellenion, these myths gained wider importance, as the son of Poseidon and of a Danaide helped the city achieve eugeneia and acquire respectable relationship connections. The longed-for closeness of the gods and their love towards the city was expressed in myths telling of the birth of Zeus and Dionysos in the city's territory. With the aid of Apameia's coinage it can be shown once again that the city fathers did not have random pictures embossed on their local coins or even leave the selection of motifs up to the die sinkers or workshops, but carefully selected pictures for their local coins to visualise and inculcate the political and religious identity of the minting city in its citizens.
