Zacynthus

W. Greece, in the Ionian Sea; one of the Ionian Islands. The chief town is Zákinthos, a port and trade center and the capital of Zákinthos prefecture. Wine, currants, citrus fruits, and olive oil are produced on the fertile, intensively cultivated island. According to tradition, the island was settled by persons led by Zacynthus, son of the Arcadian chief Dardanus. Earthquakes devastated the island in 1514, 1893, and 1953; it was rebuilt completely after the last quake. -- http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/Z/Zakintho.asp 


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Zacynthus (Zante), an island in the Sicilian seas. The history of Zacynthus, illustrated by Professor Gardner in the Numismatic Chronicle, 3rd ser., 1885, vol. v., pp. 81-107. One portion of its history falls in the time of Mark Antony and his General Sosius, B.C. 44-31, of whom there are the following coins: -

1. Obv. IMP. (Imperator.) Head of Mark Antony to r., bare. Rev. C. SOSIVS Q. (Caius Sosius Quaestor.) Eagle standing to r. on thunderbolt; in front, ZA. (Zacynthus) and a caduceus. AE. II. (100 frcs.)

2. Obv. Head of Mark Antony to r., bare; behind, ZA. (Zacynthus.) Rev. C. SOSIVS IMP. (Caius Sosius Imperator.) Trophy between two captives. AE III. (100 frcs.)

3. Obv. Head of Apollo to r., laureated; behind, ZA. (Zacynthus.) Rev. C. SOSIVS COS. DESIG. (Caius Sosius Consul Designatus.) Tripod. AE. III. (100 frcs.)

4. Obv. Head of Neptune to r., with diadem; behind, ZA (Zacynthus.) Rev. C. SOSIVS COS. (Caius Sosius Consul.) Dolphin twined round trident. AE III. (100 frcs.)

No. 1 shows Sosius as Quaestor to Anthony, and was problaby struck about B. C. 38.

No. 2, on which Sosius is styled Imperator, refers to the assistance given by him to Herod in his attack on Jerusalem in B.C. 37, when Antigonus, the last of the Asmonaean princes, was defeated and captured. It is possible that the captive figures on this coin represent Judaea and Antigonus (Madden, Coins of the Jews, p. 99; the remarks given by me as to the attribution of these pieces to Zabulon must be withdrawn in favour of Zacynthus.)

On No. 3 Sosius appears as Consul Designatus, a title which he bore from the year B.C. 39 to B.C. 32, when he became Consul, as No. 4 testifies.

These coins belong to the Antonia and Sosia gentes (Babelon, Mon. de la Repub. Rom., vol. i., pp.181, 194; vl. ii., pp. 463-465.)

Prof. Gardner (op. cit.) publishes an autonomous coin of Zacynthus, which, from its type, shows obvious allusion to the augurate of Antony, and that Antony accorded to the island a certain degree of autonomy in return for favours rendered to Sosius. - Obv. Lituus and Oenochoe. Rev. ZA. within wreath. AE. III.

 

 


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