Basic information Coinage in the Classical Period

Ancient Greek name:	Νάγιδος
Latinised name:	Nagidus

 

Basic information

Nagidos was located on the outskirts of the present-day town of Bozyazı in Mersin Province, Turkey. Anemourion, near Cape Anamur, lay approximately 20 km to the west as the crow flies, while Kelenderis lay approximately 30 km to the east. The acropolis stood on Paşabeleni Hill at the mouth of the Bayat River. Opposite the acropolis, about 200 m offshore, lies a small island known in antiquity as Nagidoussa.1

According to Pomponius Mela, Nagidos, like Kelenderis, was founded by settlers from Samos.2 Stephanus of Byzantium, quoting Hekataios of Miletos, states that the city was named after its mythical founder, a helmsman Nagis.3 The Samian foundation probably took place as early as the 8th century BC.4 However, the discovery of Iron Age sherds suggests that a native settlement predated the Samian colonisation of the site.5

An inscription from Nagidos records that Nagidos, together with Mallos in Plain Cilicia, participated in the foundation of a city called Antioch sometime between 294 and 270 BC. During this period, Cilicia was controlled by the Seleukids, so either Seleukos I or Antiochos I requested Nagidos to send colonists. However, it is unclear which of the many cities named Antioch is meant.6

Probably in the 260s BC, the city of Arsinoe was founded to the east of Aphrodisias by Aetos, the Ptolemaic strategos (military governor) of Cilicia.7 The new city was named after Arsinoe II, the co-ruler and sister-wife of Ptolemy II. The territorial losses associated with the foundation of Arsinoe probably led Nagidos to seek to subjugate its unwanted neighbour. An agreement was later reached under Thraseas, Aetos’ son and successor, who became strategos of Cilicia under Ptolemy III. Nagidos and Arsinoe concluded an isopoliteia agreement (a treaty granting equal citizenship rights to citizens of both cities), and the citizens of Arsinoe were recognised as apoikoi of Nagidos. In formal terms, Arsinoe was thus regarded as a colony founded by the Nagidians, with Nagidos as its mother city.8

In 197 BC, Antiochos III restored Seleukid rule over Cilicia. However, as a result of the Peace of Apamea concluded in 188 BC, Rough Cilicia west of the Kalykadnos River apparently fell outside Seleukid rule.9 The resulting absence of strong central authority adversely affected the region. Nagidos was abandoned around the middle of the 2nd century BC, probably as a result of the growth of Cilician piracy.10

 

Coinage in the Classical Period

Silver denominations:	Staters, third staters, obols, hemiobols and tetartemorions (Persian weight standard).11
Bronze denominations:	Probably two denominations.
City ethnic on coins:	ΝΑΓΙΔΕΩΝ = “(coin) of the people of Nagidos”, ΝΑΓΙΔΕΩ, ΝΑΓΙΔΕ, ΝΑΓΙΔ, ΝΑΓΙ, ΝΑΓ, ΝΑ, Ν, ΝΑΓΙΔΙΚΟΝ = “(coin) of Nagidos”, ΝΑΓΙΔΙΚΟΝ ΤΩΝΔΩ (unclear meaning) and ΝΑΓΙΔΙ. There are also anepigraphic issues and coins with the distorted inscription ΝΑΓΙΙΔΙΚΟΝ. The staters minted by the Persian satrap Pharnabazos around the transition from the first to the second quarter of the 4th century BC bear, in addition to the city ethnic in Greek, the satrap’s name in Aramaic.
Further information:	Coin Catalogue / Nagidos