GREEK Thessalian League City of Larissa - Bronze 16mm (5.5 grams) Struck
196-146 B.C.
Reference: Sear 2235; B.M.C. 7.47,48 -
Laureate head of Apollo
right.
ΘΕΣΣΑ / ΛΩΝ above and below horse trotting right.
Following the great victory of the Roman general Flamininus
over Philip V of Macedon, in 197 B.C., the freedom of the Greeks was proclaimed
at Corinth and a number of new autonomous coinages were initiated. Those in the
name of the Thessali were struck probably at
Larissa. The
Thessalian League was a loose confederacy of feudal-like city-states and
tribes in the Thessalian valley in Northern
Greece and was
run by a few aristocratic Thessalian families (Aleuadae
and Skopadae).
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity. Larissa, sometimes written Larisa on ancient coins
and inscriptions, is near the site of the Homeric Argissa. It appears in early
times, when
Thessaly was mainly governed by a few aristocratic families, as an important
city under the rule of the
Aleuadae,
whose authority extended over the whole district of
Pelasgiotis. This powerful family possessed for many generations before 369
BC the privilege of furnishing the tagus, the local term for the
strategos
of the combined Thessalian forces. The principal rivals of the Aleuadae were the
Scopadac of
Crannon, the remains of which (called by the Turks Old Larissa) are about 14
miles south west. The inhabitants sided with
Athens during
the Peloponnesian War.
As the chief city of ancient Thessaly, Larissa was directly annexed by Philip
II of Macedon in 344, and from then on Larissa was under Macedonian control; in
196 B.C. Larissa became an ally of Rome and was the headquarters of the
Thessalian League.
Thessaly was home to an extensive
Neolithic
culture around
2500 BC.
Mycenaean settlements have also been discovered, for example at the sites of
Iolcos,
Dimini and
Sesklo (near
Volos). Later, in
ancient Greek times, the lowlands of Thessaly became the home of baronial
families, such as the
Aleuadae of
Larissa or
the Scopads of Crannon. These baronial families organized a federation across
the Thessaly region, later went on to control the
Amphictyonic League in northern Greece. The
Thessalians were renowned for their cavalry.
In the summer of
480 BC , the
Persians invaded Thessaly. The Greek army that guarded the
Vale
of Tempe , evacuated the road before the enemy arrived. Not much later,
Thessaly surrendered. The Thessalian family of
Aleuadae
joined the Persians. In the
Peloponnesian War the Thessalians tended to side with Athens and usually
prevented Spartan troops from crossing through their territory with the
exception of the army of Brasidas.
Jason of Pherae briefly transformed the country into a significant military
power, though he was assassinated before any lasting achievements were made. In
the
4th century BC Thessaly became dependent on
Macedon and many served as vassals. In
148 BC the
Romans formally incorporated Thessaly into the province of
Macedonia, though in 300 AD Thessaly was made a separate province with its
capital at
Larissa.
It was part of the Byzantine Empire and suffered many
invasions. In 977 it was occupied by the Bulgarians, who remained there until
1014. In 1204 he was assigned to
Boniface of Montferrat and in 1225 to
Theodore Komnenos Doukas, despot of
Epirus. From
1271 to 1318 he was an independent despotate that extended to
Acarnania
and Aetolia,
run by John III Angelos Komneno. In 1309 settled there the
Almogavars
or
Catalan Company of the East (Societas Catalanorum Magna), which in 1310,
after lifting the siege of Thessalonica, withdrew as mercenaries in the pay of
the
sebastocrátor John II, and took over the country organized in a democracy.
From there went to the
Duchy of Athens called by the duke Walter I. In 1318, with the extinction of
the dynasty of Angelos, the Almogavars occupied Siderocastron and southern
Thessaly (1319) and formed the
duchy of Neopatria.
Later it was occupied by the
Serbs until 1393,
after being dominated by the
Ottomans. In 1821 participated in the
Greek War of Independence, but was not recognized as part of
Greece until
1881.
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