CYCLADES, Melos. Melos. Pseudo-autonomous issue, 1st century AD. AE (Bronze, 19 mm, 4.53 g, 6 h), Tiberius Pankles, magistrate, time of Nero, 54-68 (?). ΜΗΛΙΩΝ Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet; to left, pomegranate. Rev. ΕΠΙ / ΤΙ ΠΑΝ/ΚΛΕΟΣ / ΤΟ Γ in four lines within wreath. BMC 44. RPC I online 1300.21 (this coin). SNG Copenhagen 696. Very rare. Minor deposits and with some spots of corrosion and light scratches on the obverse, otherwise, fine.



The Cycladic island of Melos was inhabited by Dorian speakers who first appear around the beginning of the first millennium BC. Traditionally, the island maintained an isolationist stance, avoiding involvement in the conflicts and politics of its Greek neighbors. However, during the Peloponnesian War in 426 BC, the Athenians invaded Melos after the Melians made a modest financial contribution to Sparta, with whom they shared Dorian ancestry. The following year, the Athenians demanded tribute, which the Melians refused. This defiance is famously dramatized in Thucydides’ Melian Dialogue, a stark exploration of power, justice, and the fate of the weak in the face of imperial ambition. Ultimately, the Athenians conquered Melos, slaughtering the adult male population and enslaving the women and children, before resettling the island with Athenian colonists. After Sparta’s victory at the end of the war, the Spartans expelled the Athenian settlers and restored the few surviving Melians to their homeland.

Prior to the Athenian conquest, Melos minted coins on a stater weight standard of approximately 14 grams. Following the expulsion of Athenian colonists and the island’s resettlement, the coinage standard shifted to the Rhodian system, with a tetradrachm weighing just over 15 grams. The coin offered here dates from the Roman period, specifically the first century AD during the reign of Emperor Nero. It is among the very few provincial issues from the Cyclades, featuring the helmeted head of Athena on the obverse, accompanied by the ethnic designation identifying it as issued by the Melians. The reverse names the magistrate Tiberius Pankles, likely an elected official of Melos, whose name appears on five provincial bronze issues struck under Nero (see RPC I 1296-1300).