Dyrrhachium - Epidamnos, IllyriaThe ancient Greek city of Epidamnos or Epidamnus, later the Roman Dyrrhachium (modern Durrës, Albania, c. 30 km W of Tirana) was founded in 627 BC in Illyria by a group of colonists from Corinth and Corcyra (modern Corfu). Aristotle's Politics several times draws for examples on the internal government of Epidamnos, which was run as a tight oligarchy that appointed a ruling magistrate; tradesmen and craftsmen were excluded from power, until internal strife produced a more democratic government. The exiled oligarchs appealed to Corcyra while the democrats enlisted the help of Corinth, initiating a struggle between the two mother cities described by Thucydides as a cause of the Peloponnesian War. Individual trading with the local Illyrians was forbidden at Epidamnos: all traffic was through the authorized city agent or poletes. In the fourth century BC the city-state was part of the kingdoms of Cassander and Pyrrhus. The general vicinity of Epidamnus was called Epidamnia. The Romans renamed the city Dyrrachium (Greek: Dyrrhachion). They considered the name Epidamnos to be inauspicious because of its wholly coincidental similarities with the Latin word damnum, meaning "loss" or "harm". The meaning of Dyrrachium ("bad spine" or "difficult ridge" in Greek) is unclear, but it has been suggested that it refers to the imposing cliffs near the city." Coins| of Illyria| for sale in the Forum| Ancient| Coins| |shop. Numismatic ReferencesBurnett, A., M. Amandry, et al. Roman Provincial Coinage. (1992 - ). WebsitesPetrányi, G. Coinage of the two Greek-Illyrian city states Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, website: http://asklapiadas.ancients.info/index.html Historia NumorumDyrrhachium (Dyrrhachii. Epidamnus) the capital of the Dyrrhachians, was a colony of Corcyra of considerable importance. The money of this city
down to about B.C. 100, when it comes
to an end, falls into the same periods as that of Apollonia. The coins
bear the name of the people and not of their chief town.
(ii) Circ. B.C. 350-229. Staters, etc., of Corinthian types and weight (see Colonies of Corinth) (BMC Corinth, Pl. XXVI). (iii) B.C. 229-100. New series of Dyrrhachian coins.
These coins are of the weight of the Roman Victoriatus and ½ Victoriatus, and bear the names of two magistrates, probably that of the eponymous annual magistrate in the genitive on the reverse, and that of the superintendent of the mint in the nominative on the obverse. (See note 1, p. 314.) The adjunct symbol on the obverse changes with the name on the reverse, and therefore belongs properly to it. The bronze coins, also with magistrates’ names, bear types relating to the worship of the Dodonaean Zeus, Herakles, Helios, Asklepios, etc. | Dyrrhachium - Epidamnos, IllyriaThe ancient Greek city of Epidamnos or Epidamnus, later the Roman Dyrrhachium (modern Durrës, Albania, c. 30 km W of Tirana) was founded in 627 BC in Illyria by a group of colonists from Corinth and Corcyra (modern Corfu). Aristotle's Politics several times draws for examples on the internal government of Epidamnos, which was run as a tight oligarchy that appointed a ruling magistrate; tradesmen and craftsmen were excluded from power, until internal strife produced a more democratic government. The exiled oligarchs appealed to Corcyra while the democrats enlisted the help of Corinth, initiating a struggle between the two mother cities described by Thucydides as a cause of the Peloponnesian War. Individual trading with the local Illyrians was forbidden at Epidamnos: all traffic was through the authorized city agent or poletes. In the fourth century BC the city-state was part of the kingdoms of Cassander and Pyrrhus. The general vicinity of Epidamnus was called Epidamnia. The Romans renamed the city Dyrrachium (Greek: Dyrrhachion). They considered the name Epidamnos to be inauspicious because of its wholly coincidental similarities with the Latin word damnum, meaning "loss" or "harm". The meaning of Dyrrachium ("bad spine" or "difficult ridge" in Greek) is unclear, but it has been suggested that it refers to the imposing cliffs near the city." Coins| of Illyria| for sale in the Forum| Ancient| Coins| |shop. Numismatic ReferencesBurnett, A., M. Amandry, et al. Roman Provincial Coinage. (1992 - ). WebsitesPetrányi, G. Coinage of the two Greek-Illyrian city states Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, website: http://asklapiadas.ancients.info/index.html Historia NumorumDyrrhachium (Dyrrhachii. Epidamnus) the capital of the Dyrrhachians, was a colony of Corcyra of considerable importance. The money of this city
down to about B.C. 100, when it comes
to an end, falls into the same periods as that of Apollonia. The coins
bear the name of the people and not of their chief town.
(ii) Circ. B.C. 350-229. Staters, etc., of Corinthian types and weight (see Colonies of Corinth) (BMC Corinth, Pl. XXVI). (iii) B.C. 229-100. New series of Dyrrhachian coins.
These coins are of the weight of the Roman Victoriatus and ½ Victoriatus, and bear the names of two magistrates, probably that of the eponymous annual magistrate in the genitive on the reverse, and that of the superintendent of the mint in the nominative on the obverse. (See note 1, p. 314.) The adjunct symbol on the obverse changes with the name on the reverse, and therefore belongs properly to it. The bronze coins, also with magistrates’ names, bear types relating to the worship of the Dodonaean Zeus, Herakles, Helios, Asklepios, etc. |