Great God of Odessos (Miletos), Darzalas/ Pluto/ Serapis Extremely Rare AR Tetradrachm 200 BC Ancient Greek Silver Coin Museum Reproduction CSGT0011

The supreme god of Odessos was the Thracian god Darzalas. There was a syncretisation of the Great God of Odessos Darzalas with Pluto and Serapis. This beautiful emission is dated between 217 – beginning of the 2nd century BC based on the Alexander type tetradrachms with the same magistrate name ΚΥΡΣΑ. So far only 11 published specimens of this rare tetradrachm are recorded.

Odessa, Thrace is Varna, Bulgaria today. Miletian Greeks founded an apoikia (trading post) at the Thracian settlement around 600 B.C., creating a mixed Greek and Thracian community. Philip II besieged the city in 339. Getae priests persuaded him to make a treaty but the city surrendered to Alexander the Great in 335 B.C. Odessus, along with other Pontic cities and the Gatae, rebelled against Lysimachus in 313 B.C. After Lysimachus’ death in 281, the city reverted to striking in the types and names of Alexander the Great and continued to strike Alexandrine tetradrachms until at least 70 B.C. After the Battle of Pydna in 168 B.C., Thrace passed to Rome. The Thracians, however, did not all readily accept Roman dominion. Several revolts occurred. The next century and a half saw the slow development of Thracia into a permanent Roman client state. According to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Ampliatus, a follower of Saint Andrew preached in the city in 56 A.D. Public baths erected in the late 2nd century A.D. are the largest Roman remains in Bulgaria and the fourth-largest known Roman baths in Europe. During the Middle Ages, control changed from Byzantine to Bulgarian hands several times. On 10 November 1444, the Ottoman army routed an army of crusaders outside the city. The failure of the Crusade of Varna made the fall of Constantinople all but inevitable.
DESIGN:
Obverse side
Bearded head of the ‘Great God’ of Odessos right, wearing tainia
Legend:
Anepigraphic

Reverse side
Bearded figure of the Great God, draped, standing, holding phiale and cornucopiae
Legend:
ΘΕΟΥ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΟΔΗΣΙΤΩΝ, beneath ΚΥΡΣΑ (Magistrate name)

A perfect choice for Numismatists, Historians, Military Veterans, Collectors.