We kicked off this series last time with the coin that marked the beginning of coinage. It is remarkable to learn about such history and we cannot wait to continue this journey covering Whitman Publishing’s third edition of the 100 Greatest Ancient Coins. Harlan J. Berk will continue to be our guide throughout, so let us keep it rolling with this next top 100 pick. As always, keep in mind that these coins are ranked accordingly, but the order we maintain will continue with the earliest coins first.
#61 – Ephesus Phanes Electrum Stater (Ephesus – Circa 600 BC)
The city of Ephesus was the birthplace of a coin being struck featuring an inscription. Ephesus became a meeting place for native Anatolians and Greeks in addition to merchants and traders from the ports of Egypt and Syria. Not much is known about its first settlement, but physical remains were found there dating all the way back to the Mycenaean period around 1300 BC. However, there may have been an even more ancient settlement on the site. Nonetheless, Ephesus became prosperous as it became the central site for commerce, making the people there extremely attracted to coinage. Not only was this way of buying and selling new and easy, but it was also profitable.
This early electrum stater features a stag grazing left on the obverse with a Greek legend above it. The legend translates to “I Am the Badge of Phanes.” Three punch marks from the metal being driven down on the obverse appear on the reverse. Phanes, although perhaps carrying the badge of the grazing stag, is an unknown figure. According to Berk, he was “probably an aristocrat or powerful merchant who lived around 600 BC.” On the other hand, the stag was the sacred animal of the chief goddess at Ephesus, Artemis.
It was though for a long period of time that the Phanes stater was rare, but new findings suggest that there was at least one more stater, several trites (1/3 staters) depicting a stag and Phanes’s name, and 1/6, 1/12, 1/24, 1/48, and 1/96 fractions of the stater with the frontal part of a stag with no legend to be found. Knowing that there is nothing to contribute informationally about who Phanes is and how the coin was produced, the coin is still the first with an inscription. This symbolizes a development before more primitive coins which only had simple types.
The city of Ephesus continued to be one of the most prosperous and famous cities in the ancient world as it became a focal point for art, architecture, and luxury. Artemis of Ephesus, a central temple, was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.