Foundation of Abdera

Detail from Robert Strassler (referenced below, 1996, Map 1:115 at p. 155), my additions in red

Teos

The Persians first made themselves felt in Ionia in ca. 546 BC, when Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II, 559-529 BC) took Lydia and its capital Sardis from the fabulously wealthy King Croesus (‘Persian Wars’, 1: 84).  Then, in ca. 540 BC, Cyrus sent Harpagus (a Median general ,who was, by this time, in his service) to subjugate Ionia.  He began with Phocaea, whose citizens evacuated their city and sailed for Corsica (‘Persian Wars’, 1: 163-7).  Herodotus then recorded that he:

1. “... took [the] walled city [of Teos] by building earthworks, [by which time], its population had sailed to Thrace, where they founded the city of Abdera: this city had originally been founded by Timesius of Clazomenae, but he had been driven out by the Thracians. ... [The Teians] who were the only Ionians who [refused to accept the slavery that would have followed Harpagus’ invasion], left their native lands, ...  and, when Harpagus had conquered the Ionians of the mainland, the Ionians of the islands, fearing the same fate, surrendered themselves to Cyrus”, (‘Persian Wars’, 1: 168-9). 
   

The Teian foundation of Abdera is confirmed by an inscription (ca. 150 BC) from Teos that was recently published  by Mustafa Adak and Peter Thonemann (referenced below, translation at pp. 15-8), in which the ‘demos of the Abderites’ honoured that of the Teians, whom they characterised as ‘the fathers of our city’.  However, the circumstances in which the Teians founded Abdera are unclear, since it seems that Teos was not permanently abandoned at this time:

1. ✴Adak and Thonemann (referenced below, at p. 79) pointed out that the archeological record shows no sign of a break in the occupation of the site in the mid 6th century BC; and
   

2. ✴Herodotus subsequently recorded that Teos joined the Ionian revolt against Darius, when 17 of its ships took part in the disastrous Battle of Lade, which ended the revolt in 493 BC (‘Persian Wars’ 6: 8).
   

Thus, it is likely that Teos remained populated after Harpagus’ invasion and that (like almost all of the other Ionian cities) it subsequently submitted to Cyrus.

Abdera

Adak and Thonemann (referenced below, at p. 84) observed that the archeological evidence at Abdera testifies to the fact that, on their arrival, the Teians:

1. “... settled alongside an existing population of Clazomenian origin. ... Whether or not [Herodotus’ record] of a single one-off population movement is strictly correct, the arrival of a new wave of settlers in the mid to late 6th century BC is [also] clearly visible in the archeology of Abdera.”
   

Another account of the early history of Abdera might be found in Pindar’s second ‘Paean’ (5th century BC): this text is somewhat opaque (as is generally the case with archaic poetry), but Adak and Thonemann (referenced below), who  published a new translation of it (at pp. 86-7), argued (at p. 87) that it probably relates to the original Teian settlers at Abdera.  They suggested (at pp. 87-8) that, in the historical account that underlies it:

1. ✴the Teian settlers secured the site by driving out the ‘Paeonians’ (line 63);
   

2. ✴the newly-settled Abderites then faced a military disaster, probably at the hands of the ‘Paeonians’ (lines 63-4); and
   

3. ✴the Abderites finally triumphed ‘before Mt. Melamphyllos’ (lines 68-70).
   

This probably encapsulates the accepted foundation myth of the Teian colony, and Carol Dougherty (referenced below, at p. 2015) suggested that it:

1. “...was performed by a citizen-chorus [at Abdera] as part of the annual celebration of the city's [mythical] founder, Abderus.
   

The location of Mt. Melamphyllos is unclear, although Pliny the Elder (at ‘Natural History’, 4: 18) identified it as a mountain in Thrace.  Adak and Thonemann (referenced below, at p. 88) argued that lines 73-9, which are particularly obscure, seem to relate to a victory won ‘near the river’, and that this might well have been a victory that the new settlers won ‘before Mt. Melamphyllos’.  They:

1. ✴pointed out that, if this is correct, then this battle would have been fought on a flat piece of land, where a river runs close to the foot of a mountain range; and
   

2. ✴argued that the obvious candidate would be the plain to the west of the Nestus, below what is now known as Mt. Lekani (see the map below).
   

Persian Conquest of Abdera

Image from Mustafa Adak and Peter Thonemann (referenced below,  Map 2): my additions in red 

Herodotus recorded that Megabazus:

1. “... marched his army through Thrace, subduing every city and every people of that region to [Darius’] will, because the complete conquest of Thrace was precisely what Darius had instructed him to accomplish”, (‘Persian Wars’, 5: 2: 2).
   

In a later passage, he recorded (probably more accurately) that:

1. “... Megabazus made the coast [of Thrace] subject to the Persians”, (‘Persian Wars’, 5: 10).
   

This suggests that Megabazus secured the submission of all the coastal settlements between the Strymon and the Hebrus (obviously including Abdera), although (despite the stridency of the first passage) not necessarily by force.  Adak and Thonemann (referenced below, at p. 90) dated Megabazus’ campaign to ca. 514-2 BC.

Early Coinage of Teos and Abdera 

Octadrachm (29.66 gm.) of Abdera, catalogued by John May (referenced below, at p. 63, coin 14/1, Period I)

Obverse: Seated griffin (the civic symbol of Abdera), flanked by two pellets, with a rosette below its raised right leg

Reverse: quadripartite incuse square

Image from Wildwinds (copyright © CNG 2002); also illustrated by John May (referenced below, at Plate I)

Adak and Thonemann (referenced below, at p. 84) argued that:

1. “Apart from Pindar’s second ‘Paean’ [see above], our best evidence for relations between Teos and Abdera in the late 6th century BC derives from the silver coinage struck by the two cities.”
   

John May’s important catalogue of the coinage of Abdera (which was published posthumously in 1966) placed the coins of Abdera that were known at that time in their likely chronological order and split them into nine successive chronological groups that extended from ca. 54o to 345 BC.  He justified this start date  by arguing  (at p. 49) that:

1. “The first issues of coin at Abdera are unlikely to be much later than the [arrival at] the site by colonists from  Teos in 544 BC.”
   

He pointed out the the colonists adopted the coin type that was already in used at Teos, the only difference being that:

1. ✴the griffin on the obverse that identified Teos always faced right; while
   

2. ✴that on the coins of Abdera always faced left.
   

Jonathan Kagan (referenced below, 2006, at 55) argued that:

1. ✴the Teians began minting before the Abderites, using the Milesian standard (based on the stater of Miletus of 14.15 gm.); and
   

2. ✴when the Abderites subsequently began minting, they used the Aeginetan standard (based on the stater of Aegina of 12.4 gm.), at which point, the Teians also adopted this standard.
   

Adak and Thonemann (referenced below, at p. 85) observed that:

1. “The very close overlap in types and chronology [of the coinages of Teos and Abdera] suggests that we might be dealing with co-operative minting of some kind ... It would be fascinating to know whether the two ... coinages were minted from the same sources of silver but, to our knowledge, the relevant metal analyses  have not yet been undertaken.”
   

We can take this line of enquiry further by examining a very important differenced between the two coinages:

1. ✴as Adak and Thonemann (referenced below, at pp. 84-5) observed:
   

2. “Teos’ first silver coinage consists of an issue ... known only from a single stater [of 14.2 gm. and a few other lower-denomination coins] ...”; while
   

3. ✴as we shall see, from the start of its coinage, Abdera minted silver octadrachms (ca. 3o gm.} and tetradrachms, many of which still survive (see, for example, the octadrachm illustrated above).
   

This suggests that Abera had easy access to silver.  Adak and Thonemann addressed this issue in their analysis of Pindar’s second ‘Paean’.  As we have seen, they had argued that the obvious location for the new settlers’ victory over the ‘Paeonians’ would be the plain to the west of the Nestus, below what is now known as Mt. Lekani (see the map above).  They then observed (at p. 88 and note 68) that there was intensive mining for metals around this mountain in antiquity.  They also referred to a digression of Herodotus on the boundaries of the Thracian territory in which lions were found in the 5th century BC:

1. “The boundary of the lions' country is the river Nestus that flows through Abdera and the river Achelous that flows through Acarnania”, (‘Persian Wars’, 7: 126).
   

They therefore suggested that the Abderites’ territory could have extended across the Nestus to include the coastal plain below Mt. Lekani, and argued (at p. 89) that:

1. “On this hypothesis, the beginnings of Adbera’s silver coinage ... would reflect [their putative secure access to] the mines of Mt. Lekani, thanks to their [putative] great victory there, [which was soon to be celebrated in Pindar’s second ‘Paean’ (lines 68-70)].”
   

In short:

1. ✴the Abderaites certainly had easy access to large quantities of silver from the start of their coinage (perhaps from commerce with their neighbours or perhaps from access to mines  of their own around Mt. Lekani); 
   

2. ✴its is likely that this what had attracted first Clazomenae and then Teos to found a colony here; and
   

3. ✴once the ‘Teian Abderites’ began to use this local resource for their coinage, the Teians themselves probably began to ‘contract out’ the minting of their own coins to them.
   

John May (referenced below, at p. 49) recognised that one of the attractions of this site for the Teians would have been that it was:

1. “... at no great distance from the famous metalliferous region of western Thrace ... That [the settlers] should have been ready to ... exploit native resources is only to be expected. ... The interval we must assume between the coming of the Teians and Abdera’s first issue need not be longer than a few years.  Her earliest coins are probably little later than 540 BC.” 
   

Abderite Tetradrachm from Persepolis

Tetradrachm (13.31 gm) of Abdera, from the Apadana Hoard (IGCH 1789)  at Persepolis

Obverse: seated griffin (the civic symbol of Abdera

Reverse: Quadripartite linear square

Image from Erich Schmidt, referenced below, Plate 84, number 36, catalogued at p. 113: also catalogued:

by John May (referenced below, at p. 60 as Period I,  coin 4/1; and

by Andrew Meadows (referenced below, at p. 342, who inspected and weighed the coin  Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran)

Introduction of the Inscribed Reverse  at Abdera

‘Signed’ tetradrachm’(14.5 gm.) of Abdera, issued by the magistrate Phittalos

Type catalogued by John May (referenced below, at pp. 122-3) as the first in his Period IV

Obverse: Seated griffin (civic symbol of Abdera), with a scarab beetle (symbol of Phittalos) below its raised right leg

Reverse: ΕΠΙ/Φ ΙΤΤ/ΑΛ/Ο (in the time of Phittalos);

inscription surrounding a raised quadripartite square, all within an incuse square

Image from Numista: type illustrated by John May (referenced below) at Plate VIII, coins 126-9    

As we have seen, Doris Raymond argued that Alexander had first adopted this sophisticated reverse design for this ‘signed mounted horseman octadrachms’ in ca. 480 BC.  Interestingly, it was also used  for the first Abderite tetradrachm that contained the unabbreviated name of the issuing magistrate, Phittalos.  Since this could hardly have been a coincidence, we need to establish whether Alexander followed the Abderites in this respect of vice versa, which leads us to the likely dating of the start of May’s Period IV. 

John May (referenced below) noted that the abbreviated names started to appear on the obverses of their coins during his Period II (see his table at p. 72) and continued on a more consistent (and probably annual) basis throughout his Period III (see his table at p. 83).  More importantly for our purposes, the transition from his Period III to Period IV was marked by a clear change in the reverse type, when, as May pointed out (at p. 115):

1. “In place of the [anepigraphic] quadripartite square [of Phase III], ... we find a smaller quadripartite square [that is] enclosed by a flat band within the incuse [that bears] the name of the authority annually responsible for the money.”
   

The coin illustrated above, which is the first tetradrachm of Period IV (see May’s table at p. 85) was issued under the authority of a magistrate who ‘signed’ himself as Phittalos.  May adopted two fixed points for the absolute dating of his Periods III and IV:

1. ✴As we have seen, he began his Period III in ca. 492 BC. 
   

2. ✴He ended his Period IV at the point at which he identified an abrupt change in the weight standard of the Abderite tetradrachm ( from 14.9 to ca. 14 gm. - see p. 143), and argued (at p. 82) that this change of weight standard would have happened after:
   

3. “... the temporary closure of the [Abderite] mint due to the application of the Athenian coinage decree of [which he dated to 449/8 BC, and which apparently required Abdera and the other the members of the Delian League to use Athenian coinage].”
   

Since he identified 20  tetradrachm issues in each period, he placed the transition between them (and thus the magistracy of Phittalos and the introduction of the inscribed reverse type) in the period 473/70 BC. 

May, who was apparently convinced by Doris Raymond’s dating of Alexander’s coins, concluded that:

1. “... the honour  [of originating the the new reverse design] must rest with Alexander or, perhaps, Acanthus”