Greek City of Chios in Asia Minor Bronze 10mm (1.0 grams)
Struck circa 400-300 B.C.
Reference: Sear 4610
Sphinx seated left.
Amphora between IHNΩN and XIOΣ.
The city of Chios, the chief settlement on the large and
important island of the same name, started producing coinage in the middle of
the 6th century B.C. It had a fine harbor and achieved great prosperity, as well
as being a cultural center. In 86 B.C. the city was sacked by Mithradates'
forces, but Sulla restored the place and thereafter the Chians enjoyed special
privileges under Roman rule.
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Chios
(Greek:
Χίος, pronounced
[ˈçio̞s];
alternative transliterations Khíos and Híos) is the fifth
largest of the
Greek
islands, situated in the
Aegean Sea,
seven kilometres (five miles) off the
Asia Minor coast. The island is separated from
Turkey by the
Chios
Strait. The island is noted for its strong merchant
shipping
community, its unique
mastic gum and its medieval villages. The eleventh century monastery of “Nea
Moni”, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site, is located on the island.
"Chios" is also the name of the island's
main town and administrative centre, although locals refer to it as "Hora"
("Χώρα" literally means land or country, but usually the name given to the
capital or a settlement at the highest point of a Greek island).
Administratively the island forms a separate
prefecture (nomós- νομός) within the
North
Aegean
Periphery.
Known as "Ofioussa" (having snakes) and "Pityoussa" (having pine trees) in
antiquity, during the medieval age the island was ruled by a number of external
powers and has been also known as Scio (Genoese),
Chio (Italian)
and Sakız (صاقيز —Ottoman
Turkish). The capital has also been called "Castro" or "Kastron" (Καστρον;
meaning castle).
History
Pre-historic
Period
Archaeological research on Chios has found evidence that the island has been
inhabited since at least the
Neolithic
era. The primary sites of research for this period, have been cave dwellings at
Hagio(n) Galas, in the north, and a settlement and accompanying
necropolis in modern-day Emporeio at the far south of the island. The lack
of information on this period however, cannot be overstated and theories on the
size and duration of these settlements have not been well established.
The British School of Athens excavated the Emporeio site in 1952–1955, and
most of our current information comes from these digs. The Greek Archaeological
Service (G.A.S.) has been excavating periodically on Chios since 1970, though
much of their work on the island remains unpublished.
The noticeable uniformity in the size of houses at Emporeio is what primarily
drives scholar's theory that there may have been no serious
social distinction during the Neolithic on the island, the inhabitants
instead all benefiting from agricultural and livestock farming.
It is also widely held by scholars that the island was not occupied by humans
during the
Middle Bronze Age (2300–1600), though researchers have suggested recently
that the lack of evidence that exists during this period may only demonstrate
the lack of excavations on Chios and the northern
Aegean.
By at least the eleventh century BC the island was ruled by a
kingdom/chiefdom, and the subsequent transition to aristocratic (or possibly
tyrannic) rule occurred sometime over the next four centuries. Future
excavations may reveal more information about this period.
Ninth-century
Euboean and
Cypriote
presence on the island is attested by ceramics, while a
Phoenician
presence is noted at
Erythrae,
the traditional competitor of Chios on the mainland.
Classical
Period
Pherecydes, native to the Aegean, wrote that the island was occupied by the
Leleges,
aboriginal Greeks themselves reported to be subject to the
Minoans on Crete.
They were eventually driven out by invading
Ionians.
Chios was one of the original twelve member states of the
Ionian League. As a result, Chios, at the end of the 7th century BC, was one
of the first cities to strike or mint coins, establishing the sphinx as its
specific symbol. A tradition it maintained for almost 900 years.
By the fifth to fourth centuries BC, the island had grown to an estimated
population of over 120,000 (two to three times the estimated population in
2005), and based on the huge necropoli at the main city of Chios, the asty, it
is thought the majority lived in that area. Now a powerful Greek city-state,
Chios was the last member of the
Delian League to revolt.
Hellenistic
Period
In the decades immediately preceding
Macedon's domination of the Greek city-states, Chios was home to a school of
rhetoric which
Isocrates
had opened, as well as a faction aligned with
Sparta. After
the
Battle of Leuctra, supporters of the
Lacedaemonians were exiled. Among the exiled were Damasistratus and his son
Theopompus,
who had received instruction from the school and went on to study with Isocrates
in Athens before becoming a historian.[citation
needed]
Theopompus moved back to Chios with the other exiles in 333 BC after
Alexander had invaded
Asia Minor and decreed their return, as well as the exile or trial of
Persian supporters on the island. Theopompus was exiled again sometime after
Alexander's death and took refuge in Egypt.
During this period, the island also had become the largest exporter of Greek
wine, which was noted for being of relative high quality (see
Chian wine).
Chian
amphoras, with a characteristic sphinx emblem and bunches of grape have been
found in nearly every country that the ancient Greeks traded with from as far
away as Gaul,
Upper
Egypt and Eastern
Russia.
Roman
Period
During the
Third Macedonian War, thirty-five vessels allied to Rome, carrying about
1,000 Galatian
troops, as well as a number of horses, were sent by
Eumenes II
to his brother
Attalus.
Leaving from Elaea, they were headed to Phanae, planning to disembark from
there to Macedonia. However,
Perseus's naval commander Antenor intercepted the fleet between
Erythrae
(on the Western coast of Turkey) and Chios.
According to Livy,
they were caught completely off-guard by Antenor. Eumenes' officers at first
thought the intercepting fleet were friendly Romans, but scattered upon
realizing they were facing an attack by their Macedonian enemy, some choosing to
abandon ship and swim to Erythrae. Others, crashing their ships into land on
Chios, fled toward the city.
The Chians however closed their gates, startled at the calamity. And the
Macedonians, who had docked closer to the city anyway, cut the rest of the fleet
off outside the city gates, and on the road leading to the city. Of the 1,000
men, 800 were killed, 200 taken prisoner.'
After the Roman conquest Chios became part of the province of
Asia.
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