Cabiri coins of Samothrace / [Willy Schwabacher]

8/19/2019 Cabiri coins of Samothrace / [Willy Schwabacher]

1/7

THE

AMERICAN

NUMISMATIC

SOCIETY

MUSEUM

NOTES

V

THE

AMERICAN NUMISMATIC

SOCIETY

BROADWAY AT

56TH

STREET

NEW YORK

952

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2/7


3/7

CABIRI

ON ARCHAIC

COINS OF

SAMOTHRACE

(See

Plate

XII,

1-3)

The Jameson specimen of an early diobol of Samothrace

was

noted,

among

other valuable

acquisitions

for the

Mu-

seum's collection of Greek

coins,

in the

Proceedings

of the

American

Numismatic

Society

of

195

1

x

The

coin

(Plate

XII,

1),

one of two

known,

had been

published

by

its

former

owner

in the admirable

catalogue

of his

collection

(Vol.

IV,

no.

2443).

In

my publication

of the

Kiourpet

hoard2

-

from which a

stater and two other small coins of the Jameson Collection

had

originally

come3

-

I dealt with

this rare coin

and,

calling

it a

unique

variety,

described its

reverse

type

as a bearded

head

in Corinthian helmet

within a

square

incuse,

surrounded

by

strongly-dotted

ines. 4

At that

time I

was not

aware

that

there

was a second

specimen

of this

interesting

type

in

the

collection of

Mr.

Edward

T.

Newell.

Informing

me of

this,

the

late

Mr.

Newell added

that he was

pleased

to see

that in

my

own

series I

now

have

all the

varieties

represented

in

the

hoard,

except

the

large

coins

and

possibly your

Pl.

XI, 10,

though

I

have

something

very

much like the

latter

piece.

In

the

same

letter

Mr. Newell added

further

that,

in further

support

of

my

thesis,

he

had

always

been

convinced that

the

bearded

head on

the

reverse of

your

Plate

XI,

3

does

not wear

1

Proceedingsf

The

Americanumismatic

ociety,cKi, .

26.

2

S.

P.

Noe,

Bibliographyf

Greek

oinHoards

(Num.

Notes

nd

Monographs8),

p.152,

o.

565.

3

Cf. ollection.JamesonVol.V 1932), . 27,note ollowingo. 444.4

Transactions

f

he

nternational

umismatic

ongress,

936 London,.

938),

.

in,

no.

3,

Pl.

XI,

3.

49



4/7

5

o

A.

N. S. MUSEUM

NOTES

a

Corinthian

helmet,

but some sort of

cap

and

is in

actuality

an

interesting

representation

of a bearded

Cabirus .

The

acquisition

of the

Jameson

diobol for the collection of

the American Numismatic

Society

has offered me an

op-

portunity

to

publish

the above

important

remarks which its

late

President communicated to

me

after

having

received

my

article on the Kiourpet hoard. There can be no doubt that my

description

of the

Jameson

coin was incorrect and

that the

presumed

Corinthian helmet

is in fact

some sort of

cap,

very

appropriate

for an

early representation

of

a

bearded

Cabirus.5

The

pilos

as the

characteristic headdress of Cabirus

seems to

appear

rather late in the

history

of

its

representa-

tion.6

In

any

case,

Mr.

Newell's

observation

supports

my

attribution of the uninscribed

small

types

of

the

Kiourpet

hoard to

Samothrace,

as a

hitherto unknown

early coinage

of

the

island

of the Samotbrakes

Tbeoi.

Mr. Newell also called

my

attention to

the

possibility

of

ex-

plaining

the

type

of

one

other coin in the

hoard

(the

hemiobol,

Pl.

XI,

7

of

my

article)

as another head of a

bearded Cabirus.

He stated that

specimens

in his

own collection

(Plate

XII,

2-3)

showed

the

head to be not that of Athena

but also of a

bearded

person wearing

a

spiked

cap

(like

certain Thracians

on

the

vase

paintings).

He

believed that

here, too,

we have

the representation of a bearded Cabirus. Here, again, I wish

to

express

full

agreement

with

Mr.

Newell's better

explanation

of this somewhat unclear

type,

which thus

fits

in

so well into

the

important

archaic issues of the

island.7

6

OnCabiri

n

oins f.

H.

von

ritze,

Birytis

nd ie

Kabiren

uf

Münzen,

n

Zeit-

schrift

ür

umismatik,

XIV

1904),

.

105

f.

recent

eneral

reatise

n

heCabiri

is:

Bengt emberg,

ie

Kabiren

Uppsala,950),

54pp.

nd

maps.

6

The arliestoins ith

ypes

f

Cabiri

earing

ilos

nowno

von ritzere

lectrum

and

old

taters

f

Cyzicus

nd

ampsacus

f he

ourth

entury

.c.Cf.

Hemberg,

oc.

cit.,

p.

146,

79i.

7The ttributionftheseoins o SamothraceasrecentlygreedobyE. S. G.

Robinson

n

Hesperia,upplement

III

(1949), .

335;

f.

B.

Hemberg,

oc.

it.,

. 57.



5/7

CABIRI ON COINS OF SAMOTHRACE

51

The American

excavations on Samothrace have

not

yet

produced

any

numismatic material

to confirm

my

conclusions

drawn from

the

Kiourpet

hoard.8

Let us

hope

that the attribu-

tion

of this

late archaic

coinage

to

Samothrace

may

be

sup-

ported

by

new finds under controlled conditions on

the

island.

Willy

Schwabacher

8

Cf.,

owever,

.

Lehmann-Hartleben,

JA

XLIV

1940), . 355.



6/7


7/7

XII

SAMOTHRACE

(1-3)

ANTIOCH IN SYRIA

(4-10)

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Cabiri coins of Samothrace / [Willy Schwabacher]