Illyricum, Apollonia. AR Drachm

Illyricum, Apollonia. AR Drachm, circa 1st century BC. Magistrates Ariston and Aiena(s). Obv. APIΣTΩN, cow standing left, turning her head back to suckle calf standing right beneath her. Rev. AΠOΛ / AI – NE – A, divided double square containing two stellate designs. 17 mm, 3.02 g. Ceka 24; Maier 12; HGC 3, 4. Attractive metal and well-struck for the issue.

Struck at Apollonia on the Adriatic in the final century of independence before the full imposition of Roman provincial structures, this drachm continues the long-lived civic type that had defined the city’s coinage since the fourth century BC. The obverse scene of a cow suckling her calf is one of the most graceful and enduring images of Greek colonial art, evoking themes of fertility, continuity, and the pastoral richness of the hinterland controlled by Apollonia. The type may also carry a symbolic reference to the city’s foundation myths and to the protective nourishment of the polis. The reverse presents the characteristic double incuse square, divided into four compartments and containing two stellate patterns, a design deeply rooted in Illyrian and NW Greek numismatic tradition. The surrounding ethnic and magistrates’ names identify the officials responsible for the issue, here Ariston and Aiena(s), whose names recur across the later Apollonian series. These drachms circulated widely throughout the Adriatic basin, serving both local commerce and the needs of regional trade between the Greek colonies and the Illyrian interior. A pleasing and well-preserved example of this historically important coinage from a city that formed a key cultural and commercial bridge between the Hellenic and Illyrian worlds.