{"id":806,"date":"2019-10-26T20:41:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-26T19:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/curiosi\/?p=806"},"modified":"2019-11-04T16:38:25","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T16:38:25","slug":"allen-seaby-leon-of-massalia-chapter-6-the-owls-of-athens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/curiosi\/allen-seaby-leon-of-massalia-chapter-6-the-owls-of-athens\/","title":{"rendered":"Allen Seaby, Leon of Massalia, Chapter 6: The \u201cOwls\u201d of Athens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those Athenian coins,<\/span>
\nFinely engraved, well struck,
\nAcknowledged the world over
\nBy Greek and by Barbarian,
\nWe make no more. Instead
\nBase copper and poor dies
\nAre now our counters.
\nAristophanes, The Frogs<\/em> 721\u2013726<\/p>\n

Leon took early opportunity of visiting Antikles to thank him. He found the street with the shrine of Stephanophoros. Antikles was evidently a coin-striker, and the subdued noise of hammering came from within. As he approached the door, it opened and a man carrying a heavy package over his shoulder came out, accompanied by an armed Scythian guard. Just then Agias the slave crossed the courtyard and, seeing Leon, invited him in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe master,\u201d he said, \u201cis in his workshop. Be pleased to follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon crossed the court and entered a one-storey building, its walls of rough sundried bricks, the straws sticking out of them. He found himself in a long workroom with barred window openings along both sides. Just below the windows were benches at which men sat working. At the far end, in a recess, was a charcoal furnace with crucibles inside, a slave busy with the bellows. Elsewhere workmen were striking anvils with heavy hammers.<\/p>\n

Antikles, wearing a leather apron over his tunic, was in discussion with a worker seated before a balance and weights. He turned as Leon approached and greeted him warmly. \u201cI trust you slept well. I fear that a coin-striker\u2019s establishment will be of little interest to you. But if you will pardon my curiosity, I would like to know from which colony you come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon smiled and, taking a coin from his wallet, asked if Antikles recognised it. The coin-striker glanced at it and exclaimed: \u201cThe head of Artemis! So you are from Massalia. Your folk are fortunate to be far from the troubles which have beset us these last years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon replied, \u201cI am pleased to find so much life and cheerfulness in a city which has suffered so much. I have come to Athens to learn about its art. My father and I felt that I should find in Athens the best masters and finest artists. I am interested in your craft but have never been inside a mint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antikles was enthusiastic and only too pleased to show Leon what his men could do. \u201cAt present we are working on a new series of coins. Masyntias here helps me design them. Those sitting at the benches are engaged with the dies. It is tedious work and requires good light. Each coin, for its striking, requires an upper die (a punch) and a lower die (an anvil), both made of bronze.\u201d He moved to the nearest bench, \u201cThis man has been working for several days on the head of Athene. One must not hurry when hollowing out, for if too much is cut away, it cannot be put back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon examined the die, a disc of bronze set firmly in a bed of cement. The head of the goddess seemed to rise up from the warm bronze as if in relief. \u201cIt looks perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt still requires some chasing and burnishing\u201d, explained the worker. \u201cWhen finished, the die will be hardened and then handed to the striker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turning back to Antikles, Leon took an Athenian coin from his wallet and, showing him the owl face, asked, \u201cWhat means the crescent shape on the left of the owl\u2019s neck? It cannot be part of a letter surely?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy young friend,\u201d returned the craftsman gravely, \u201cthe sign represents a waning moon. What does that convey to you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMarathon!\u201d he exclaimed after a short pause. \u201cMarathon was fought when the moon was waning, because, I remember, that was why the Spartans weren\u2019t there. They didn\u2019t want to set out before the moon was full. It wasn\u2019t lucky they said; and so they didn\u2019t reach Athens until all was over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that little moon,\u201d said Antikles, \u201ctells the Athenians that they drove off the Persians without the help of the Spartans. The upright olive leaves on Athene\u2019s helmet are an additional reminder. Athens is proud of her olives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antikles then reached for a box on a shelf above one of the benches. It was full of old coins. He picked a few out and placed them on the bench. \u201cThese coins are more than a hundred years old. As you see, they vary little from the current Athenian coins. Look at this\u201d, he continued, taking up a large coin, a dekadrachm, with a smiling head of Athene, her helmet\u2019s crest clearly marked. He turned it over and showed an owl with wings outspread. \u201cThis was issued after such a rich vein of silver in the Laurian mines had been opened that the state hardly knew what to do with the ore. So, for ten years every citizen could claim an annual grant of ten drachmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d remarked Leon, \u201cI remember reading about the ten drachm dole in Herodotos. Themistokles persuaded the recipients to give up the grant so that triremes might be built with the money. It was well he did or where would the Greek states have been when the Persians came?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly the veins of silver have given out now\u201d, Antikles continued, \u201cso we have had to fall back on copper with a thin coating of silver.\u201d He closed the box of coins and replaced it on the shelf.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese coins have come down to me from my ancestors. We have always been coin-strikers; but my only son fell at Aegospotami so the line will end with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon begged that before he left he might observe the striking. Antikles led him to the chief striker, who was about to adjust a new die in the anvil. When the die was firmly fixed on the anvil, with a pair of tongs the striker took up a \u2018blank\u2019, which was being heated to softness in the furnace and laid it on the die. Then he placed the punch-head on the blank and struck three times. At the third blow he made a gesture of disgust and taking up the coin, now impressed with a relief of Athene\u2019s head on one face and the owl on the other, tossed it back onto the tray among the heated blanks.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, the punch shifted\u201d, said Antikles. \u201cBut the metal isn\u2019t wasted, you know. Those blanks have already been carefully weighed and clipped. Athens\u2019 coins have always been known for their correctness in weight. Of course, exact positioning is another matter. Even the most expert striker cannot be sure of getting every bit of both faces on his coin. He can see where his punch goes, but not the die below.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the moneyer conducted Leon to the threshold he said, \u201cLet us hope that soon we shall be able to abandon this accursed Euboean copper and resume our silver issues so that I can again hold up my head. Farewell! May the gods bless your stay and make it both profitable and pleasurable.”<\/p>\n

\n

To read chapter seven click on this picture.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Temple<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those Athenian coins, Finely engraved, well struck, Acknowledged the world over By Greek and by Barbarian, We make no more. 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