SHIPS ON ANCIENT COINS

Greeks

BY THE SIXTH CENTURY BCE, when coinage came into wide use in the Mediterranean world, ships had evolved to a high technical level. Most ships on ancient coins are rowing galleys: big, fragile racing shells designed for ramming. Rowers were free citizens, often highly trained athletes. Hollywood, as usual with history, gets it wrong; galley slaves were a medieval innovation rarely employed in the ancient world. Cargo ships, which relied more on sails, were not symbols of power and appear on coins less often.

Considering the importance of maritime trade and conflict in ancient Greece, it is surprising how few ships appear on archaic (before 500 BCE) and classical (500 – 336 BCE) Greek coins. We hardly ever see a whole ship, usually only the prow (the bow section, with the ram) or the stern (where the steersman sat).

Mariners are famously superstitious–was it bad luck to depict an entire ship? Probably not, since vase paintings of this era often show complete vessels. More likely it was simply too difficult for die cutters to engrave so many oars. Even a small warship (the pentekonter) had 25 oars per side, while the standard war vessel (the trireme) had 85 oars per side, packed in three tiers.

Phoenicians

Beginning in the fifth century BCE, the main coin-issuing Phoenician cities were Tyre (Sur), Sidon (Saida), Byblos (Jubail) and Arados (Arwad).

Phoenician coins often represent waves of the sea abstractly as a series of zigzag lines, but ships are shown in considerable detail, with the round shields of warriors arrayed along the railing. A half-shekel of Sidon shows the sail “reefed” up to the yardarm, hanging in loose folds.

Carthage, founded as a colony of Tyre around 800 BCE, eventually challenged Rome for dominance of the Mediterranean. One of the few Carthaginian coins to show a ship was struck for Hamilcar Barca (father of Hannibal) at Cadiz in Spain (c. 237-209 BCE). On this rare silver shekel, a dolphin swims alongside the prow, a sight still familiar to mariners.

Romans

Some of the most common and affordable Roman silver coins depicting a ship are the “Legionary” issues struck to pay the army of Mark Antony during the civil war in 32 BCE. These coins honor 23 numbered legions and two elite units, the Praetorian Cohorts (the commander’s bodyguard) and the Speculatores (who served as scouts).

The generic warship shown on the obverse has from seven to 14 oars – evidently this was left to the discretion and patience of the die cutter. Struck in debased silver, these coins remained in circulation, at a discount, for decades after Antony’s defeat and death. Most examples are well-worn and punched with banker’s marks. The inscription ANT AUG hails Antony as augur, a priest of the Roman state religion (the title Augustus came into use years later). III VIR RPC abbreviates another title, “Triumvir for the Restoration of the Republic.” Collectable examples typically sell for US$200-400, with rare types, like the Cohortis Speculatorum, going for over $2000 in high grade.

To read the complete article, see:
Ships on Ancient Coins (www.coinweek.com/ancient-coins/ships-on-ancient-coins/)

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