Circa 280 BCE
Æ 18mm, 5,27 gm, 12h
Obv: Helmeted and draped bust of Athena right.
Rev: ΠΥΘΟK, magistrate, to right, .ΣA-MO, to left. Cybele seated left, holding scepter and patera
SNG Copenhagen 998 var. (head of Athena); BMC Thrace, etc. pg. 215, 2-4
Samothrace was where tradition has it Philip II and Olympias first met. Legend has it he was smitten with her on first site, but more likely their marriage was arranged and of convenience. They certainly didn’t have the most ebullient of marriages.
Nevertheless, that put Samothrace as a major target for me, even though this coin was minted some time after they had both died. This was the closest I could get since we don’t know of any coins minted at Samothrace during the 360’s BCE.
The island itself was not defensible but was extremely important for religious reasons and many important personalities, including Philip II, came here to be initiated in them. Like the Eleusinian Mysteries, we’re not exactly sure what these ones entailed.
Philip II was eventually not content with just being initiated, and took the island for Macedonian control, where it remained for some time. It seems shortly after the death of Lysimachos, however, they at least had enough freedom to mint their own coins.
July
Philip of Macedon, after being defeated at the Battle of Pydna, stops briefly at Galepsos before heading to Samothrace.