IONIA. Colophon. Trebonianus Gallus, 251-253. Oktassarion (Bronze, 35 mm, 18.89 g, 7 h), Klaudios Kallistos, strategos and ‘priest of the Ionians’. ΑΥ Κ Γ ΟΥΙΒ ΤΡΕΒΩΝΙΑΝΟC ΓΑΛΛΟC Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Trebonianus Gallus to right, seen from behind. Rev. ΕΠΙ CΤΡ ΚΛ ΚΑΛΛΙCΤΟΥ ΙΕΡΕΩC ΙΩΝΩΝ / ΚΟΛΟΦΩΝΙΩ / ΤΟ ΚΟΙΝΟΝ ΙΩΝΩΝ Tetrastyle Temple of Apollo Klarios; within, statue of Apollo Klarios seated to left, holding branch (?) in his right hand and leaning left on lyre; before, humped bull standing left in front of altar; in the foreground, in a semi-circle, the personifications of the thirteen members of the Ionian League standing towards the bull, all holding wreaths in their upright hands. RPC IX 600.10 (this coin). SNG von Aulock 2024. Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, an impressive coin with a spectacular reverse of great historical interest. The obverse slightly double struck and the reverse a bit rough, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.


The artist who crafted the dies for this important festival issue faced a great challenge: tasked by the city of Colophon, or perhaps more specifically, by the strategos and high priest of the Ionian League, Klaudios Kallistos, to depict the gathering of the Ionian League, how should he turn such a complex theme into a circular numismatic image? Here we see the accomplished result of his considerations, which shows the Temple of Apollo Klarios atop with a bull below, surrounded, in a semi-circle, by the personifications of the thirteen members of the League. Obviously, the city of Kolophon took great pride in presiding over the Ionian League, whose thirteen members - Chios, Ephesos, Erythrai, Klazomenai, Kolophon, Lebedos, Milet, Myus, Phokaia, Priene, Samos, Smyrna and Teos - held their meetings at the sanctuary of Klaros, an ancient oracle some thirteen kilometers away from the city. The artist deliberately placed a humped bull in front of an altar in the center of the die, as the ritual sacrifice of the impressive animals was an integral part of the worship of many Greek gods. In fact, modern archaeology has revealed at Klaros the only surviving structures in the Greek world built specifically to perform the hecatomb, the simultaneous sacrifice of one hundred bulls to a god.