inscription EYA, possibly the beginning of Evagoras, the reverses have sometimes a lion or an eagle.

The lion belongs to the worship of Venus Astarte (the head on the obverse), the eagle to that of Jupiter Salaminius. Nicocles.-A fine large silver coin, attributed to Nicocles, has the head of Venus on the obverse, and on the reverse Apollo sitting, and holding a bow, with the inscription (in Greek), "Of Nicocles, King of the Paphians."

The coins attributed to Pnytagoras have, on the obverse, a head of Diana; and on the reverse, that of Venus, and the letters пN, the two first of the name. This is a very beautiful coin.

Those attributed to Menelaus have the letters MEN behind the head of Venus.

No other tolerably certain attributions have been made, but the coins published by Mr. Borrel were all found in the island of Cyprus, and evidently belong to the same class.

The first Evagoras greatly cultivated the friendship of the Athenians; and, in consequence of assistance rendered them in the social war, a statue was erected to him at Athens by the side of that of the Athenian general Conon. The Persian usurpers of Salamis appear to have introduced Eastern customs and Eastern neglect of art in the island, while Evagoras did every thing to restore the ancient Hellenic influence. This circumstance accounts for the even execution of the coins, and it is possible the coin described above may be that of Evagoras I., the abbreviated name being, in most cases, a sign of considerable antiquity. If this should be the case, then the coin described by Eckhel, with diademed head, on the obverse, and on the reverse an eagle, with the inscription, at full length, BAZIAEN ETATOPOT KTпPION, might be assigned to Evagoras II., which would complete the series.

COINS OF THE TYRANTS OF HERACLEA, TIMOTHEUS

AND DIONYSIUS.

Dionysius (about 338 to 306 B.C.).—Coins having on the obverse a head of Bacchus, and on the reverse Hercules erecting a trophy, with the inscription AIONTZIor (of

Clearchus

Dionysius), are attributed to this personage. is the first recorded prince, or tyrant, of Heraclea. His tyranny commenced about 366 B.C.; after a reign of twelve years, he was killed, and was succeeded by Satyrus, a still greater tyrant, who had been tutor to his children. His children succeeded seven years later; they are the princes named at the head of this article. They reigned at first together, and afterwards Dionysius reigned alone, and managed to escape the destruction of the great invasion of Alexander, and to secure a peace with the princes who succeeded him.

Coins of Tisiphonus (359 to 353 B.C.), tyrant of Pheris, n Thessaly. These coins have on the obverse the fore part ɔf a lion; on the reverse, fore part of a horse, with ΤΕΙΣΙΦΟΝΟΥ (of Tisiphonus).

CHAPTER IX.

COINS OF REGAL DYNASTIES NOT EXTENDING TO A LATER PERIOD THAN THE ROMAN CONQUEST OF GREECE AND THE GRECIANISED PROVINCES OF ASIA.

To describe these coins, I shall have to retrace my steps to a period anterior to that of Alexander the Great.

At the head of these shorter series, the coins of the kings of Epirus may perhaps be placed, not on account of their universal excellence, but of the celebrity of Pyrrhus, the knight-errant of ancient heroes, whose coins, struck in Sicily and Italy, are many of them remarkable for their beauty and unusual character.

COINS OF THE KINGS OF EPIRUS (THE MODERN ALBANIA).

The celebrity of Pyrrhus II., king of Epirus, has imparted to the Epirote coins a more than ordinary interest, though they are far, as I have said, from being an extensive

H

or fine series, with one or two striking exceptions. This race of princes claims descent from Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, and Deidamia, daughter of Lycomedes, King of Scyros. They also styled themselves Eacides, from the name of the ancestor of Achilles, Eacus. The first king of Epirus to whom history assigns a precise date is Admetes, who reigned over a portion of that country at the time of the invasion of Xerxes, 481 B.C. Amyntas and Alcetes succeeded him, and the sons of the latter, Orisbas and Neoptolemus, who appear to have shared the kingdom, were contemporaries of Philip II. of Macedon, who ascended the throne in the year 359 B.C. Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus, was married to Philip II., and became the mother of Alexander the Great.

Eckhel attributes a coin to Orisbas, which has on the obverse a beardless head of Hercules, wearing the lion. skin; and on the reverse the club and a quiver, with the letters API, the commencement of the name.

Alexander I. succeeded his father, Neoptolemus, and, as brother of Olympias, was uncle to Alexander the Great. He died in the year 328 B.C., six years before his celebrated nephew. Eckhel assigns several coins to Alexander I. On the coins which have been attributed to this monarch, the most usual type is, on the obverse, a head of Hercules, and on the reverse, some have a thunderbolt between two stars; but then there are other varieties. The best known examples have the bow and club, with AAEZANAPOY. TOT. NEOПTOAEMOT. (Alexander [son] of Neoptolemus.) Some fine gold of Alexander have a head of Jupiter on the obverse, and the thunderbolt, with name and title, on the reverse.

Eacides, a son of Orisbas, succeeded Alexander in the year 326 B.C.; but no coins have been assigned to him by Eckhel, who, however, attributes coins to Phthia, his queen, the mother of the celebrated Pyrrhus. These coins have on the obverse the head of a queen, wearing a crown adorned with jewels, with the word OIAZ. They have on the reverse a thunderbolt, and the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ. ΠΥΡΡΟΥ., which prove that they were struck by her son Pyrrhus, probably after her death.

Eacides was expelled while Pyrrhus was yet a child of twelve years of age, and that young prince did not obtain firm

possession of the throne till he was twenty-three years of age, about the year 295 B.C., and was slain at Argos in the year 272 B.C. His early conflicts with Cassander,-his expedition with Demetrius to assist Antigonus in Asia,his conquest of Macedonia at two different epochs,-his wars in Italy when he came in contact with the fast rising power of the Romans, his expedition to Sicily,-his return to Epirus after six years absence, his siege of Sparta, and the circumstances which led to his death, are events too well known to require recapitulation here. His coins are very numerous. Of those struck in Epirus, the most celebrated are the noble tetradrachms, with the head of the Dodonaan Jupiter on the obverse, and the sitting Minerva on the reverse, with the usual inscription.

The gold staters, with the head of Minerva on the obverse and a Victory carrying a trophy on the reverse, with Baxiaen ПYРРот, are as fine as the staters of Alexander the Great. Of the coins struck by him in Italy and Sicily, of which there is a great variety, the following is the most remarkable, it was struck in the former country, in the strong MagnaGræcia town of Locri Epizephyrii, where Pyrrhus resided for some time. It represents the head of the deified Achilles, the reputed ancestor of Pyrrhus, on one side, and the nereid Thetis, the mother of Achilles, on a sea-horse, on the reverse. Under the pretence of the head of Achilles, we have possibly the features of Pyrrhus. Thetis carries the arms forged by Vulcan for Achilles, in allusion to the succour brought by Pyrrhus to the Italian Greeks against the barbarians, as the rising Romans were termed by them.

Alexander II., the son of Pyrrhus, reigned from 272 to 242 B.C. A coin is attributed to him by Eckhel, having on the obverse a female head, clothed with an elephant skin. This may be in honour of his mother, Larrassa, a daughter of the Sicilian prince, Agathocles, who, after his conquests in Africa, placed a similar head-dress upon his own coins, as a personification of Africa. The reverse has a figure of Pallas, with ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ.

He was succeeded by his son, Ptolemy, who, though he reigned but a short time, has yet left coins. The one described is assigned to him by Eckhel. It has on the obverse the head of a female, with a crown of separate flowers, and

on the reverse an eagle; in the field is a star, and in some a crown, with пTOЛEMAIO.

Pyrrhus III., a son of Ptolemy, was assassinated, and succeeded by his sister Laodamia, or Deidamia, who was the last of the race of Pyrrhus; and soon afterwards (about 150 B.C.) the whole of Epirus was added to Macedonia, which (167 B.C.) had been declared a Roman province by Paulus Æmilius, who subdued the last Macedonian king, Perseus. A certain class of coins, even under monarchic forms of government, were struck without the name or portrait of the sovereign, or even that of a privileged town. Such coins generally bear the national name only; in the case of Epirus it stands AПEIPOTAN (in the Doric dialect for HПEIPOTON) [of the people of Epirus]. They have generally the head of Jupiter and Juno, the one profile over the other, on the obverse, and are very fine and richlydesigned coins. To Epirus, the coins bearing the name of Sorias, and having a head of Ceres for principal type, and on reverse two ears of wheat, with the name and title of king are attributed; and the antique gold medallion of Mostis, mentioned among the Thracian pieces, is also by some attributed to Epirus.

COINS OF THE KINGS OF ILLYRIA.

As of a neighbouring country to Epirus, the regal coins of Illyria will, perhaps, find their most appropriate place here. Monunius (about 170 B.C.) was contemporary with Perseus, last king of Macedon. He styles himself king of Dyrrachium; and his coins have the ancient type of that Illyrian city-the cow suckling a calf. The reverse represents the gardens of Alcinous, with the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΟΝΟΥΝΙΟΥ ΔΥΡ (ραχηνων)- Money of Monunius, King of Dyrrachium.

Gentius, another king of Illyria, or part of Illyria, of about the same epoch (170 B.C.), has left coins bearing a head, with the Macedonian hat; and on the reverse, a ship, with the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩ ΓΕΝΤΙΟΥ.

Other coins, attributed to Illyria, bear the inscription ΒΑΛΛΑΙΟΥ ; but the epoch of the reign of Balleus is uncertain.