SARDES LYDIA AE15 Apollo and Club 133 BC and later

SARDES LYDIA AE15 Ancient Greece HOME OF CROESUS Apollo & Club

OBVERSE – Laureate head of Apollo, right.
REVERSE – Club within wreath

15.2 MM AND 3.80 GRAMS.

Sear 4736 (unsure)

The capital of the ancient Lydia, Sardes was one of the most interesting cities in Lydia with its monumental buildings and location. Some of the names that people who are into archaeology and mythology know by heart are directly related to Sardes: the ancient gold river Pactolus and Croesus whose name means wealth. He minted some of the first coinage in history.

The first settlers in Sardes were there in the second millennium B.C.,but the city gained importance after the7th century B.C. when it became the capital of the Lydians. Starting with the king Giges, Sardes reached its best times during Croesus in the 6th century B.C. Croesus was enormously wealthy. He created a highly civilized society and he also had intensive relations with the neighboring states. For example, it is known that he contributed much to the construction of the Artemis Temple,one of the Seven Wonders of the world .

Croesus was defeated in the middle of this century by the Persians. The Persian king Cyrus took the treasure back to his country. Sardes also marks the end of the famous King's Road which was used during the Persian invasion between Persia and Western Anatolia. Sardes was then one of the three governing cities in the region. As Alexander arrived in Anotalia in the 4th century B.C. , Sardes changed hands from Seleucids to Pergamum Kingdom and then to the Roman Empire.

Liberated from the Persians by Alexander the Great in c.340 BC, Sardes became a Greek city with an impressive Temple of Artemis. In the Roman era, the temple was expanded and used also for the imperial cult, and a huge bath-gymnasium complex was built.