Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
OLBA, cilt.21, ss.371-386, 2013 (AHCI)
In the course of the archaeological excavations on Mount Nif (Olympos), Izmir; conducted regularly from 2006 to 2010, eighty-one coins were discovered in the necropolis of Karamattepe, which is thought to have been used between the 4th and early 3rd century B. C. Thirty-five of these coins are autonomous city coins from Ionia, Aiolis, Mysia and Karia, and forty-three of these coins are the Macedonian issues from the period of Alexander III and Philip III. Three coins could not be identified due to their poor condition. The Macedonian royal coins, nearly all bronze, form 53 % of the total. The focus of this article is on the twenty bronze coins of Philip III Arrhidaeus, a part of the Macedonian royal coin finds, with a shield adorned with the Gorgon head on the obverse and a helmet and a kerykeion on the left corner at the base on the reverse. These coins have been attributed to Miletos(?) by K.Liampi and to the city of Salamis on Cyprus by M.J.Price. But to date, neither from Salamis nor from the rest of the island have these coins been encountered. The same is also true for the coin finds from the Sacred Way excavations at Miletos and Didymaion. However, the iconographic connection between the sixteen similar coins which were found in the Sardeis excavations, the issues of Sardeis also analysed by Ashton, and the coinage of Miletos(?)/Salamis may support the idea that these coins may have been struck in the city of Sardeis, only 75 km. from Karamattepe. The quantity Macedonian royal coinage finds from the Karamattepe necropolis is to be related to the presence of Macedonian military forces in this region. In this context, the Late Classic-Early Hellenistic citadel of Ballicaoluk, locally called "Kiz Kalesi", and situated on a steep rocky hill to the northwest of Karamattepe should be associated with the necropolis area. The citadel has been strategically located in such a way as to overlook both the Torbali Plain and the Karabel Pass, which links Sardeis to Ephesos and, at the same time it would also have been used to protect the roads leading towards Smyrna during the Hellenistic Period. One unit and half unit bronze Macedonian coins which were found in the necropolis area must be related to the salaries paid to the mercenaries. As we know, the mercenaries employed, were paid in two different ways: Sitarchia, siteresion, sitonion, the payment in money for provisions, and the opsonion, paid after service has been rendered. These bronze coins are Sitarchia which were paid at the beginning of the month, to enable the soldiers to meet their daily shopping needs.