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Phanes name is attested on a series of early electrum coins, the most ancient inscribed coin series at present known, of Caria, Asia Minor. This group of coins has a Greek legend reading "Phaenōs eimi sēma" (ΦΑΕΝΟΣ ΕΜΙ ΣΕΜΑ) (retrograde) which can be translated either as "I am the badge of Phanes" or as "I am the sign of light" or maybe "I am the tomb of light" or "I am the tomb of Phanes". The celebrated coins of Phanes are known to be amongst the earliest of Greek coins, a hemihekte (a twelfth stater) of the issue was found in a jar in the foundation deposit of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (this deposit is considered the oldest deposit of electrum coins discovered). Only six specimens of this coin type are known.

Possible identifications for "Phanes"

No further certain information exists as to the identity of the Phanes named on these coins. One possibility is that Phanes was a wealthy merchant, another that the coins bearing the name are to be associated with Apollo-Phanes and, due to the Deer, with Artemis (twin sister of the god of light Apollo-Phanes). Although only seven Phanes type coins were discovered, it is also notable that 20% of all early electrum coins also have the Lion (symbol of Artemis-Potnia Theron) and the sun burst (symbol of Apollo-Phaneos). Alternatively it is stated that the inscribed Phanes maybe was the Halicarnassian mercenary of Amasis, Phanes of Halicarnassus, mentioned by Herodotus, who escaped to the court of Cambyses, and became his guide in the invasion of Egypt in the year B.C. 527 or 525. According to Herodotus, this Phanes was buried alive by a sandstorm, together with 50000 Persian soldiers, while trying to conquer the temple of Amun–Zeus in Egypt nearby the ancient cities of Abydos, Tahta and Nag Hammadi. The fact that the Greek word "Phanes" also means light (or lamp), and the word "sema" also means tomb, makes the coins issued in the name of Phanes famous and controversial.

Religious interpretation - prophecy

The coin is probably among the first coins and certainly the oldest inscribed one ever discovered. It was buried in the very foundation of the temple of Ephesus by the priests of the Mother Goddess Potnia Theron (translated as "Lady/Queen of the Beasts"). Ephesus is also considered as the death place of Virgin Mary. The statement ΦΑΕΝΟΣ ΕΜΙ ΣΕΜΑ "I am the sign/tomb of light/Phanes" written by the priests of Artemision on the oldest inscribed coin and buried in the foundations of the temple, could be considered as a written prophecy about the role of money in human history.

The statement "the sign of the Bright one" (written in a coin depicting a beast, lion or deer) which could be considered similar to the statement "the mark of the Beast/Lucifer" (a quote written in the nearby island of Patmos/Letois by the protector of Virgin Mary, John the Apostle, six centuries later), along with the ambiguous/oracular possible translation "I am the tomb of light" (where "light" could be either Virgin Mary who died in Ephesus or Jesus who was betrayed and died because of money) makes the coin extremely controversial. It is notable that this statement was not written in any random coin, it was written in the oldest inscribed coin ever discovered and was buried in the very foundation of a temple that was/is considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, so it could also be a prophetic reference to the thirty pieces of silver which were the cause of the death of Jesus.

Jesus's death and resurrection may also be associated with the Orphic cult of Phanes who was a dying and rising god. Phanes was considered as the first god who was "expressible and acceptable to human ears", a god of Logos. Phanes was also called "διφυῆς"-two-natured (which could be a reference to the two natures of Jesus, the human and the divine) and "τρίγονος"-thrice-born (which could be a reference to the Holy Trinity). .

Finally it is notable that the Lydian coins (that were discovered into or nearby the same jar in the Artemision deposit) are inscribed as WALWET/WALWEL, which , among other interpretations, could also be interpreted as "I am of the Lion", a reference to the lion head god Phanes/Oromazes, the god of the Zoroaster religion whose priests-biblical magi were the first to discover and honour Jesus in Bethlehem.

See also

• Phanes (mythology)

References

1. "Electrum stater inscribed with the name of Phanes". British Museum. 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
2. Newton (Num. Chron., 1870, p. 238
3. For the translation of "sēma" as tomb, see "ΣΕΜΑ ΦΡΑΣΙΚΛΕΙΑΣ"
4. https://museum.imj.org.il/exhibitions/2012/whitegold/Animals.html
5. https://lsj.gr/%CF%86%CE%B1%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%BD%CF%8C%CF%82
6. For the translation of "sēma" as tomb, see "ΣΕΜΑ ΦΡΑΣΙΚΛΕΙΑΣ"
7. "Full text of "The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society"". Retrieved 2012-05-21.
8. Herodotus third book (ch. iv.)
9. Herodotus third book
10. Nag_Hammadi_library#Discovery
11. Iliad 2.814, 6.419
12. "Ancient coinage of Ionia". Snible.org. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
13. See Artemision deposit https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=301224
14. https://www.scholars.northwestern.edu/en/publications/kukalim-walwet-and-the-artemision-deposit-problems-in-early-anato
15. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-hellenic-studies/article/abs/coins-from-the-ephesian-artemision-reconsidered/4F59EA2644CF7D541BD9961A481F7003#
16. Gordon Laing argues convincingly that the worship of Artemis as both virgin and mother at the grand Ephesian temple contributed to the veneration of Mary. Phipps, William E. (2008). Supernaturalism in Christianity: Its Growth and Cure. Mercer University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0881460940. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
17. For the translation of "sēma" as tomb, see "ΣΕΜΑ ΦΡΑΣΙΚΛΕΙΑΣ"
18. For the translation of "phaenos" as light, see https://lsj.gr/%CF%86%CE%B1%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%BD%CF%8C%CF%82
19. Newton, Charles (1870). "On an Electrum Stater, Possibly of Ephesus". The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society. 10: 237–239. JSTOR 42680883.
20. "This is the most ancient inscribed coin at present known. Unfortunately it is unique, and the third letter of the first word is obscure. It may be either E or N. The interpretation of the remarkable inscription has given rise to much controversial discussion, for a résumé of which see Babelon, Traité, ii. I, 62. The weight, the type, and the Ionian character of the incuse reverse, all indicate Ephesus as the place of mintage rather than Halicarnassus, to which Doric city P. Gardner once attributed it, partly because it was acquired at Budrum, and partly on the ground that a certain Phanes of Halicarnassus is mentioned by Herodotus (iii. 4) as a mercenary soldier at the court of Amasis, whose service he deserted for that of Cambyses on his invasion of Egypt in B.C. 525. On various grounds, as Babelon (op. cit.) has pointed out, this attribution is unacceptable. The coin is certainly Ephesian, as the stag is the symbol of the great goddess of Ephesus. The relation of the inscription to the type is in so far certain that it seems to mean ‘I am the signet of Phanes’. The doubtful word in the genitive case Φαενος, Φαννος, or Φανος, has been differently explained. Newton (Num. Chron., 1870, p. 238) regarded it as referable only to the type and to the cultus of the goddess Artemis; and he suggested as a translation ‘I am the sign of the Bright one’. Such an interpretation of the inscription would imply that the coin was a hierarchical issue from the temple treasury. It is, however, far more probable that Φηνος or Φαννος is not an epithet of Artemis, but the name, in the genitive case, of some prominent citizen of Ephesus, it may be of a despot, or of a magistrate, or of a member of one of the wealthy Ephesian families of bankers and money-lenders (see Babelon, Traité, l. c.)." http://snible.org/coins/hn/ionia.html#571
21. "and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. " https://biblehub.com/john/19-27.htm
22. Yaldabaoth Names "It would seem then that the Orphic view of the demiurge was integrated into Jewish Gnosticism even before the redaction of the myth contained in the original Apocryphon of John. ... Phanes is represented with the mask of a lion's head on his breast, while from his sides the heads of a ram and a buck are budding forth: his body is encircled by a snake. This type was accepted by the Mithras mysteries, to indicate Aion, the new year, and Mithras, whose numerical value is 365." Gilles Quispel
23. "πρώτης ητόν τι ἐχούσης καὶ σύμμετρον πρὸς ἀνθρώπων ἀκοάς" Damascius cf. B. 75–80, K. 54
24. "εν αρχη ην ο λογος και ο λογος ην προς τον θεον και θεος ην ο λογος" https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=%CE%9A%CE%91%CE%A4%CE%91%20%CE%99%CE%A9%CE%91%CE%9D%CE%9D%CE%97%CE%9D%201&version=WHNU
25. Dionysus or Zagreus, Orphic Hymn 30, trans. Athanassakis (1977) p.43
26. Ahbel-Rappe, Sara (25 June 2010). Damascius' Problems and Solutions Concerning First Principles. ISBN 978-0-19-972231-0.
27. "I am disposed to regard them as originally a single ανάθημα" https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/hogarth1908bd1/0087
28. "from the 93 coins discovered in the Artemisium deposit in 1904–5, most of which are lion-head thirds and sixths and lion-paw fractions, we have a number of WALWET coins" https://www.academia.edu/29719834/WALWET_and_KUKALIM_Lydian_coin_legends_dynastic_succession_and_the_chronology_of_Mermnad_kings
29. "Wallace 1986 and 1988 also made the great advance of associating the word on the coins with the Luwian word for lion,walwa/i, and concluded that rather than referring to Alyattes, the legends simply contained an adjectival form of the Lydian word for lion, *walwe-, and might be translated as “I am of the lion” with unclear reference" https://www.academia.edu/29719834/WALWET_and_KUKALIM_Lydian_coin_legends_dynastic_succession_and_the_chronology_of_Mermnad_kings

• Coins of ancient Greece
• Caria
• Coin designers