Æ (15.5mm, 2.15g, 12h)
c. 400 BCE
Laureate head of Apollo r. R/ Horse stepping r.; serpent above, monogram to r.
SNG BnF -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock –
Atarneos in Mysia is where Hermias ruled. He became famous for both being the father in-law of Aristotle and for being a moron.
Hermias studied in Plato’s Academy, where he met Aristotle. The two became life-long friends (which sadly during this era wasn’t that long) and eventually Aristotle headed over to see Hermias in Mysia, where Aristotle philosiphized, partied, and married Pythias, Hermias’ daughter.
Everything went peachy for Hermias until one day he read a MysiaSpace (remember this was a long time ago) page touting the glories of rebelling against Ataxerxes III. All of the satraps were doing so and it was the in thing to do, so Hermias followed suit.
Ataxerxes was pissed, so he sent Memnon of Rhodes to deal with him. Since Hermias had a good defensive position, Memnon decided to use his brain and thus invited Hermias into a friendly visit. Once Hermias was vulnerable, Memnon arrested him, then used his seal to send a letter to all other cities urging them to surrender. Miraculously the rebellion ended without a single death, unless you include Hermias.
Sadly, Hermias was tortured to learn of Philip II‘s plans (the two were pen pals) and disposed of. Clearly none of his classes in philosophy covered common sense.