irca 325-300 BCE
Æ 2.75g, 14mm, 12h
Laureate head of Zeus to right
Bee; Μ-[Ε] Λ-Ι in two lines across fields.
Rogers 396; BCD Thessaly II 459; HGC 4, 23
Ex J. Greiff Collection
Melitaia was the site of a few interesting stories.
First is that it contained the tomb of Hellen, who was the ancestor of all Hellenes. Hellen in turn was a son of Deukalion and Pyrrha, who supposedly gave the city its ancient name of Pyrrha. Hellen in turn had three sons, Aeolos, Doros, and Xothos, who themselves fathered the different branches of Greeks.
The second involves Aspalis, who was a beautiful woman but was hanged in order to avoid being taken by the tyrant of the city, although to me it’s slightly vague whether that was her idea. Later, her brother got revenge on the tyrant by dressing up as his sister and killing him. Afterwards, Aspalis’ body couldn’t be found because the gods had taken it (or perhaps her family had buried it).
Women in the town continued to honor Aspalis by hanging a goat from her statue every year in commemoration of her being hanged.