Aeolis, Temnos
3rd century BCE
Æ 9mm, 0.71g, 12h
Bearded head of Dionysos l., wearing ivy wreath.
R/ Grape bunch on vine.
SNG Copenhagen 246-8
Ex London Ancient Coins

Xenophon mentioned in his Hellenika that Temnos was a city, not large, where people could dwell without being subject to the Persian king.

It was mentioned more often during the times of Roman influence, when Cicero mentioned a Heraklides of Temnos, who was “responsible for stirring up all the Greeks.”

By Pliny’s time, he said the city no longer stood, though Pausanias mentioned that once one crossed the river Hermos, one saw an image of Aphrodite made out of a living myrtle tree. Legend had that it was ordered by Pelops when arranging for Hippodameia as his bride.

600 BCE

Eresos, Kyme, Mytiliene, Methymna, Pitane, Eliaia, Larissa, Neonteichos, Aigai, Antandros, Temnos, Gryneion, and Smyrna become members of the Aeolian League, an association of Greek city-states in the region.