Cilicia Mallus. Swan Silver Obol, Early 400 BC. NGC Ch VF

Description: Cilicia Mallus. Silver Obol, 4th Century BC, Swan, NGC Ch VF. Shipped with USPS First Class.Mallus(Greek: Mallos;ethnonym: ) was an ancient city ofCilicia Campestris(laterCilicia Prima) lying near the mouth of thePyramus(now theCeyhan Nehri) river, inAnatolia. In ancient times, the city was situated at the mouth of the Pyramus (which has changed course since), on a hill oppositeMagarsa(or Magarsus) which served as its port. The district was called from it,Mallotis. The location of the site is currently inland a few km from theMediterraneancoast on an elevation in theKarataPeninsula,Adana Province,Turkey, a few km from the city of Karata.Greek legendcredited the establishment of Mallus to twoArgivebrothers named Amphilochus andMopsus. Amphilochus is variously described as the king and seer who wasthe son of Amphiarausand the brother ofAlcmaeon;Alcmaeon's son; or, inStrabo, either of these figures understood as ademigodson ofApollo.Both Amphiaraus's son and Alcmaeon's son were in the generations said to have witnessed theTrojan War. Amphilochus and Mopsus were said to have left that conflict and founded Mallus and some otheroraclesand towns before either returning toArgosor killing one another. Visitors to the oracle, which continued as late asPlutarch, slept overnight in the temple and theirdreamswere considered to be the gods' answer to their questions.Alexander the Greaterected a bridge over the Pyramus and visited Mallus during his conquest of the region, and at Mallus he performed sacrifices to Amphilochus.Alexander also exempted the town from paying taxes, because it was a colony of the Argives, and he himself claimed to have sprung from Argos, being one of the descendants ofHeracles. Triremesfrom Mallus joined Alexander's navy and participated at theSiege of Tyre. It allied itself withTarsusagainstAntiochus IV Epiphanes, who according to theBible, had presented both cities to his concubineAntiochis.Mallus was a town of considerable importance, though it does not appear to have possessed any particular attractions.In the second century B.C., it was the hometown of the notable philosopher and grammarianCrates of Mallus, credited with having built the first knownglobe; however, he left the city at a young age and his scholarly career mainly took place elsewhere. Its port-town wasMagarsa, though in later times it seems to have had a port of its own, calledPortus Palorum.Numerous coins from Mallus have been preserved, and those of the third century bear the inscriptionMallus ColoniaorColonia Metropolis Mallus. The city is mentioned by numerous ancient authors, and in the Middle Ages byArabian,Armenian, andItalianwriters. The city declined in importance and disappeared with the ArmenianKingdom of Cilicia.The ancient site ofAntiochia ad Pyramumlies a few km away on the coast. Mallus figures in the various revisions of the AntiocheneNotitiae Episcopatuumas suffragan of Tarsus. Sixbishopsare recorded. Bematius, present at theCouncil of Antioch(377); Valentine, present at theFirst Council of Ephesus(431) and theCouncil of Tarsus(434); Chrysippus at theCouncil of Chalcedon(451).The see is included in theCatholic Church's list oftitular sees.Notitular bishopof the see has been appointed since the death of its last bishop in 1990.The precise location of Mallus has been the subject of some study. From the ancient sources we learn that it was situated near the mouth of the river Pyramus, on an eminence opposite to Megarsus (modernKarata), as we must infer fromQuintus Curtius,who states that Alexander entered the town after throwing a bridge across the Pyramus. Mallus therefore stood on the eastern bank of the river. According toScylax(p.40) it was necessary to sail up the river a short distance in order to reach Mallus; andPomponius Mela(i.13) also states that the town is situated close upon the river; whence Ptolemy (v.8.4) must be mistaken in placing it more than two miles away from the river. Mallus is commonly believed to be in the town ofKzltahta,Adana Province. The nearby town ofTerkosanis mentioned being its necropolis.The city's location at Kzltahta has been extrapolated by reference to the ancient sources.Stadiasmusindicates that Mallus was 150stades away from Megarsus (Megarsus is identified to be modern Karata).One stadia equals 600feet and 150 stades is 27.4km. When this distance is measured from Karata within a 1:100,000 scale map of Turkey, the city's location is in the periphery of Kzltahta.

Price: 269.99 USD

Location: Reading, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2024-11-06T02:56:09.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.99 USD