c. 350-240 BCE
Æ 11mm, 1.65g, 9h
Helmeted head of Athena r.
R/ Kantharos; star above.
HGC 6, 916
Methymna during ancient times was the second most important city in Lesbos after Mytilene. In one of the first extant novels Daphnis and Chloe, some of the belligerents come from Methymna, although the book is interesting in that no one is truly bad and those who do bad things end up reforming.
Because Mytilene was usually their rival, the two cities tended to be on opposite sides of each conflict. In the Peloponnesian War, Methymna sided with Athens against the other Lesbian cities. As a reward, Athens exacted no tribute from Methymna in the Delian League.
In 336 BCE, Alexander the Great’s generals Parmenion and Attalos took the island. This coin may have been minted during that period, but it’s difficult to pinpoint with any accuracy the date ranges for Methymna’s coinage.
In 333 BCE, Memnon of Rhodes took Lesbos back in the name of the Persians, but after he was killed in Mytilene one of Alexander’s generals took in back in 332 BCE. The current tyrant, Aristonikos, was given over to the populace, tortured, and executed.
Some time after Alexander’s death, the city came under the control of Lysimachos, and an unknown time after his death became a possession of the Ptolemies.
Very little remains of the ancient city, although the modern one is considered one of the most beautiful in both Lesbos and Greece.