Greek city of Temnos in Aiolis
Bronze 18mm (3.01 grams) Struck circa 50-150 A.D.
THMNOC, Draped bust of turreted Tyche right.
THMNΩΤΩΝ, Tyche standing left, holding rudder and cornucopia.

* Numismatic Note: This is a very  rare, possibly unpublished type from Temnos in Aiolis.
 
Situated a short distance east of Neonteichos, on the hill-side above the right  bank of the river Hermos.

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Dionysus or Dionysos (Greek Διόνυσος) is the ancient Greek god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy, was also the driving force behind Greek theater. The god who inspires joyful  worship and ecstasy, festivals and celebration is a major  figure of Greek mythology and the religion of ancient Greece. He is included as  one of the twelve  Olympians in some lists. Dionysus is typical of the god of the epiphany, "the god that comes". He was also  known as Bacchus, the name adopted by the Romans and the frenzy he induces, bakkheia.  Hailed as an Asiatic foreigner, he was thought to have had strong ties to the  East and to  Ethiopia in the South. He was also known as the  Liberator (Eleutherios),  freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy or wine. The divine  mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the aulos and to bring an end to care and worry.  Scholars have discussed Dionysus' relationship to the "cult of the souls" and  his ability to preside over communication between the living and the dead.

In Greek mythology, Dionysus is made out to be a son of Zeus and the mortal Semele. He is described as being womanly or  "man-womanish". The retinue of Dionysus was called the thiasus and was composed chiefly of maenads and satyrs. Dionysus is a god of mystery religious rites. In the Thracian mysteries, he wears the bassaris  or  fox-skin, symbolizing new life. His own rites, the Dionysian Mysteries practiced by maenads and others, were the most secret of  all. Many scholars believe that Dionysus is a syncretism of a local Greek nature deity and a  more powerful god from Thrace or Phrygia such as Sabazios or Zalmoxis.

Contradictions in Dionysus' origin suggest to some that we are dealing not  with the historical memory of a cult that is foreign, but with a god in whom  foreignness is inherent.  Karl Kerenyi traces him to Minoan Crete, where his Minoan name is unknown  but his characteristic presence is recognizable. Clearly, Dionysus had been with  the Greeks and their predecessors a long time, and yet always retained the feel  of something alien.

Temnos (also Temnus) was a small Greek city-state, on the  western coast of Anatolia. The name survives as a Catholic titular see. When Temnos was a functioning  diocese, its bishop was a suffragan of Ephesus.

Temnos was a little town of Aeolia, near the Hermus River, which is shown on its coins.  Situated at elevation it commanded the territories of Cyme, Phocaea, and Smyrna. Under Augustus it was already on the decline; under Tiberius it was destroyed by an earthquake; and in the time of Pliny it was no longer inhabited. It was  however rebuilt later.