Nomos 23

CILICIA. Ura (Kelenderis). Circa 460s-450s BC. Stater (Silver, 21 mm, 10.59 g, 10 h). 'RH in Aramaic, but barely visible Winged ibex kneeling to left, its head turned back to right; all within border of dots. Rev. 'RH in Aramaic Winged lion standing to right, its head turned back to left; in field to left, globe; all within border of dots in shallow incuse square. Apparently unpublished, but cf. Traité II, 2 for a similar winged ibex. Same dies as Nomos 18, 2019, 197. Very rare and with fascinating types taken from eastern mythology. Very fine.

The city of Ura, a Bronze Age city well-known to historians of Hittite Asia Minor and its relations to the Mesopotamian kingdoms to the south, was hitherto basically unknown to numismatists. This is because the city's previously known coins were identified as being from an uncertain mint, as Traité II, 2, 1030 = pl. CXXIII, 8, and 1031 = pl. CXXIII, 9: both with an ibex on the obverse and an owl on the reverse. However, previously unpublished coins of the present type, all with clearly legible legends, make their identification clear. In addition, we now know that the ancient city of Ura began to become increasingly Hellenized and, shortly after this coin was struck, changed its name to the now much more numismatically familiar Kelenderis! By the early 5th century Ura had, however, a well-known ancient school of medicine, which Hippocrates cited for its practice of uranalysis.