HELLENISTIC CIVILIZATION - REGION OF CARIA - ISLAND/CITY-STATE OF RHODES

SILVER DRACHM

CERTIFIED BY CHOICE ABOUT UNCIRCULATED

STRIKE: 5/ 5

SURFACE: 2/ 5

OBV: FACING RADIATE HEAD OF HELIOS.

REV: STYLIZED ROSE IN BLOOM.

THE ISLAND OF RHODES IS LOCATED OFF THE COAST OF SOUTHERN ANATOLIA IN THE SOUTHERN AEGEAN SEA. IT IS THE LARGEST OF THE DODECANESE ISLANDS.  THE GREEK CITIES ON RHODES WERE FOUNDED BY THE DORIAN GREEKS IN THE 8th CENTURY BC, AND THE THREE RHODIAN DORIC TOWNS BELONGED TO THE FEDERATION CALLED THE DORIAN HEXAPOLIS (SIX-CITIES).   THE PERSIANS INVADED THE ISLAND, BUT WERE DRIVEN OUT BY THE ATHENIANS IN 478 BC, AND THE RHODIAN CITIES JOINED THE ATHENIAN LEAGUE, DECIDING TO REMAIN NEUTRAL AND THEN INDEPENDENT BY THE END OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR IN 404 BC. IN 408BC, THE CITIES OF RHODES JOINED TOGETHER TO FORM ONE STATE AND BUILT THE NEW CAPITAL, RHODES, ON THE NORTH END OF THE ISLAND. THE ISLAND WAS CONQUERED BY MAUSOLUS, KING OF CARIA, IN 357 BC AND THEN FELL AGAIN TO THE PERSIANS IN 340 BC. AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE ACHAEMONID PERSIAN EMPIRE BY ALEXANDER III THE GREAT OF MACEDON, RHODES WAS ADDED, TO THE RELIEF OF THE INHABITANTS OF RHODES, TO HIS EMPIRE. AFTER ALEXANDER'S GENERALS DIVIDED THE EMPIRE AND FOUGHT EACH OTHER FOR CONTROL AFTER HIS DEATH, RHODES FORMED STRONG COMMERCIAL AND CULTURAL BONDS WITH THE PTOLEMAIC EGYPT. THIS ALLIANCE WOULD CONTROL TRADE THROUGHOUT THE AEGEAN, WITH RHODES HAVING AN ALMOST COMPLETE MONOPOLY OVER THE GRAIN TRADE IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN.

THIS SILVER DRACHM COIN COMES FROM THE ERA WHEN RHODES WAS AT ITS HEIGHT IN WEALTH AND PRESTIGE. THE CITY DEVELOPED INTO A MARITIME, COMMERCIAL AND CULTURAL CENTER. THE COINAGE OF RHODES WAS USED THROUGHOUT THE MEDITERRANEAN AND WIDELY CIRCULATED AS TRADE COINAGE. RHODES' WEALTH WAS USED NOT ONLY TO KEEP THE NATION INDEPENDENT AND COMMERCIALLY ACTIVE, BUT ALSO FAMOUS FOR ITS SCHOOLS OF PHILOSOPHY, LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ASTRONOMY, RHETORIC AND SCULPTURE.

IN AN ATTEMPT TO BREAK THE RHODIAN ALLIANCE WITH EGYPT, ANTIGONUS I, THEN KING OF CYPRUS AND LATER KING OF OF MACEDON, AND HIS SON DEMETRIUS, LAID SEIGE TO RHODES IN 305 BC. THE SEIGE FAILED A YEAR LATER, AND THE RHODIANS BUILT A COLOSSAL STATUE OF THEIR PATRON GOD, HELIOS, USING MONEY FROM THE SALE OF THE EQUIPMENT THE ANTIGONIDS LEFT BEHIND. THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES, ONE OF THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, STOOD OVER 98 FEET HIGH AND SPANNED THE HARBOR ENTRANCE. THE TITAN HELIOS IS PICTURED ON THE OBVERSE OF THIS RHODIAN COIN. THE STATUE STOOD FOR OVER 56 YEARS, BUT IN 226 BC RHODES WAS ROCKED BY A LARGE EARTHQUAKE THAT SNAPPED THE STATUE AT ITS KNEES AS IT CRASHED TO THE LANDWARD SIDE OF THE CITY. PTOLEMY III OF EGYPT OFFERED TO REBUILD AS A GIFT TO HIS RHODIAN ALLIES, BUT THE DELPHIC ORACLE INSTILLED THE RHODIANS WITH FEAR THAT THEY HAD ANGERED THEIR GOD HELIOS, AND THEY DECLINED PTOLEMY'S OFFER.

CONTAINS 4.05 GRAMS OF SILVER

20 MM IN DIAMETER