Memnon (BC 340-334) Siglos

Memnon of Rhodes, Satrap in Ionia, ca 340-334 BC. Ephesos? AR Siglos (5.46g, 3h). Persian king or hero in kneeling-running stance right, holding dagger and bow / Incuse relief map of the hinterland of Ephesos(?). Good VF, trace of encrustation on reverse. Extremely rare.

The reverse depicts what Johnston interprets as a relief map of the hinterland of Ephesos (the earliest Greek map and first physical relief map known) - the mountains Tmolos and Messogis between the river valleys of the Caister and Maeander, and three mountain ridges (Madranbaba Dagi, Karincali Dagi, and Akaba Tepesi). Johnston follows Six in suggesting that the coins were probably struck under the Persian general Memnon at Ephesos, circa 336-334 BC, in order to pay his army after he had captured the city, but before his defeat by Alexander at the Battle of Granicus in 334. However, this theory is still debated and doubted by some scholars, most recently by Leo Mildenberg.