Mallos

ABSTRACT According to the given by writers of ancient period, the actual site of Mallos city located in Pedias part of Kilikia region, haven't been determined yet. On the contrary, Magarsus, thought to be the new city centre or a secondary settlement of Mallos in the period of Rome and Hellenistic, is located in the Dört Direkli, 4 km west of Karataş town which is 49 km away from Adana. Mallos, according to the ancient geographer Strabon, was established by omniscient priests Amphilokhos and Mopsos of Apollo who came to the region after the Troian War. However, according to another ancient author, Arrianos, state that the city was established by a group of Argos. After the middle of the 5th c., Mallos for the first time began to mint coins in its own name. The city, even if there were discontinuity, continued to mint coins until the period Valerianus I (253-260 AD). Even though there were many studies on the coins of the city, some types belonging to the coins haven't been exactly identified yet because these are studies carried out in catalog form. Accordingly, the goal of this article, in the light of new researches, is to reexamine an re-evaluate the coins mint by the city.

A series of 5th century BC silver staters, which started to appear in commerce in late 2017 or early 2018, display specific characteristics that suggest that they all come from the same hoard. A significant number of coins, either previously unknown or thought to be extremely rare from approximately nine eastern Mediterranean mints, including Mallos, Tarsos, Soloi, Holmi, Kelenderis, Ura, Side, Aspendos, Phaselis and various Cyprus mints, were represented in the hoard. There are also at least three groups of coins that still pose a challenge to attribute to a specific mint. This chapter examines the material that belongs to the Mallos Mint.

Last updated (minor corrections in figure numbers and small additions) on 05 August 2022

This paper starts with a die-study (19 coins instead of the 7 previously known, among which 3 overstruck) of the coinage with the name TERSIKON and the aramaci legend 'Cilicia' which is generally given to Pharnabazos at Tarsus. We then discuss the full coinage attributed to Pharnabazos and Datames/Tarkumuwa putting their volumes into perspective with the Hecatomnid coinages of Mausolos and Idrieus. The core of the paper is about the many countermarks found on Cilican as well as on Pamphylian staters of the beginning of the 4th c. BCE. We give a long list of 287 specimens detailing for each which kind of countermark(s) and on which isssue of which mint (Selge, Aspendos, Side, Nagidos, Kelenderis, Holmoi, Soloi, Tarsus, Mallos, Issos and even Lapethos on Cyprus). Since it is likely that each of these countermarks was applied at the same time and place, each could be taken as the equivalent of a virtual hoard, giving precious information about what then circulated. The countermak with a bull has been struck on coins from 11 different mints. Accepted chronologies must be adapted to this crucial evidence Many issues dated ca. 350 BCE have in fact been produced before 370 BCE. Many countermarked coins are die-linked prompting the idea that countermaks were applied soon after strike. It turns put that the 4 overstrikes we do have for the coinage of Pharnabazos and Tarkumuwa are all on the same obverse die (out of more than 600). And the four coins have been cointermarked with the bull to r. It is also likely that several coinagesq were produced at the same place.

Mallos is a well-known ancient city in east Cilicia but, in the absence of any visible ruins, the question of its exact location has been troubling historians and archaeologist for centuries. The information by ancient writers like Strabo, Pomponius Mela and Arrian provide is helpful but not enough to pinpoint its exact location. The site of the ancient settlement must have been buried by the notorious silt the river Pyramos has carried for centuries. This presentation includes the numismatic evidence to its probable location and cultural legacy of Mallos.

Mallos is a well-known ancient city in east Cilicia but, in the absence of any visible ruins, the question of its exact location has been troubling historians and archaeologist for centuries. The information by ancient writers like Strabo, Pomponius Mela and Arrian provide is helpful but not enough to pinpoint its exact location. The site of the ancient settlement must have been buried by the notorious silt (Strabo) the river Pyramos has carried for centuries. This presentation, which includes the historical, cartographical and geographical evidence, and the one that will follow this one with the numismatic evidence aim to shed some light to its probable location.
Updated on July 22, 2018

A number of silver staters and fractions were separately offered by the same dealer on two different online auctions in February and March 2016. There are strong commonalities between the Mallos, Tarsos and Soloi staters and one obol of Myriandros and another uncertain obol, which were offered in the same group.