A particularly large number of countermarks are found on the coins of Aspendos in Pamphylia and Selge in Pisidia. These are staters with a warrior on the obverse and a triskeles of human legs on the reverse (Aspendos), staters with wrestlers on the obverse and a slinger on the reverse (Aspendos, Selge), and drachms with a warrior on horseback on the obverse and a boar on the reverse (Aspendos). Some of these countermarks show a kneeling goat with its head facing the opposite direction. This is the same position in which it is shown on the coins of Kelenderis in Cilicia. Similarly to the Kelenderis coins, the goat is sometimes oriented to the right (Figure 1; Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 20) and sometimes to the left (Figures 2–5; Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 21). It is therefore possible that these countermarks were used by the city of Kelenderis, which thus certified these coins for circulation in its territory, as Imhoof-Blumer has already noted (ibid., pp. 314 and 453). Another possibility is that Kelenderis granted the cities of Aspendos and Selge the right to mark coins with the Kelenderis countermark so that coins so marked could be used in mutual trade as equivalents of Kelenderis coins (a similar phenomenon can be observed in some Pamphylian cities in relation to the Attalid Kingdom and the Seleukid Empire in the 2nd century BC, see Bresson 2018). However, another reason and origin of these countermarks cannot be ruled out.

There are also six other types of countermarks on these coins that feature a goat: a goat’s head oriented to the right (Figure 6; Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 22) or to the left (Figure 7), a goat standing to the right (Figures 8–9) or to the left (Figure 10), and a goat standing to the right or to the left under a horizontal crescent (Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, nos. 18–19). However, the connection of these countermarks with Kelenderis is less likely, because Kelenderis coins always feature either a kneeling goat or the forepart of a kneeling goat.

List of countermarks depicting a goat on Pamphylian coins:

1. goat kneeling right with head reverted

Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 20 (Selge, Aspendos); Figure 1 (stater).

2. goat kneeling left with head reverted

Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 21 (Selge, Aspendos); Figures 2–4 (staters); Figure 5 (drachm).

3. goat’s head right

Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 22 (Aspendos); Figure 6 (stater).

4. goat’s head left

Figure 7 (stater).

5. goat standing right

Figure 8 (stater); Figure 9 (fourrée stater).

6. goat standing left

Figure 10 (stater).

7. goat standing right, crescent above

Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 18 (Aspendos).

8. goat standing left, crescent above

Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 19 (Aspendos).

 

Figure 1. Aspendos, AR Stater, c. 400–380 BC; Tekin 1997, Series 3.

Countermarks clockwise from the right: lion or panther pouncing left beneath inverted crescent, goat kneeling right with head reverted, two uncertain countermarks.

 

Figure 2. Aspendos, AR Stater, c. 465–430 BC.

Countermarks: bottom left, goat kneeling left with head reverted; top right, uncertain countermark.

 

Figure 3. Aspendos, AR Stater, c. 420–410 BC; Tekin 1997, Series 1.

Countermark between slinger’s legs: goat kneeling left with head reverted.

 

Figure 4. Aspendos, AR Stater, c. 400–380 BC; Tekin 1997, Series 3.

Countermarks clockwise from the right: lion or panther standing left, uncertain countermark, janiform male heads, goat kneeling left with head reverted, bull right and shield in profile above.

 

Figure 5. Aspendos, AR Drachm, c. 420–375 BC.

Countermarks: on the right, goat kneeling left with head reverted; on the boar’s side, two uncertain countermarks.

 

Figure 6. Aspendos, AR Stater, c. 380/75–360 BC; Tekin 1997, Series 4.

Countermarks: bottom left, goat’s head to right; between slinger’s legs, uncertain cypher.

 

Figure 7. Aspendos, AR Stater, c. 380/75–360 BC; Tekin 1997, Series 4.

Countermarks: top left, triskeles; between slinger’s legs, goat’s head to left; in right field, lion’s head to right and owl standing left.

 

Figure 8. Aspendos, AR Stater, c. 380/75–360 BC; Tekin 1997, Series 4.

Countermarks: in left field, lion or panther pouncing left beneath inverted crescent; in right field, goat standing right.

 

Figure 9. Aspendos, Fourrée AR Stater, c. 380/75–360 BC; Tekin 1997, Series 4.

Countermarks clockwise from the right: uncertain countermark, goat standing right, facing bull’s head and hoplite standing right with shield behind.

 

Figure 10. Aspendos, AR Stater, c. 380/75–360 BC; Tekin 1997, Series 4.

Countermarks: top right, goat standing left; bottom right, uncertain countermark.

 

Credits:
Figure 1:	The Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Gallica, Identifier: ark:/12148/btv1b85323068 = SNG France 3, 55 (this coin)
Figure 2:	Classical Numismatic Group, Electronic Auction 466 (22 April 2022), Lot 192 (acsearch.info URL)
Figure 3:	Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles, Inc., Auction 91 (7 June 2016), Lot 1862 (acsearch.info URL)
Figure 4:	Classical Numismatic Group, Electronic Auction 366 (13 January 2016), Lot 575 (acsearch.info URL)
Figure 5:	Numismad.com Marcin Surgiewicz-Śliwiński, Auction 7 (14–15 April 2023), Lot 291 (biddr.com URL)
Figure 6:	Classical Numismatic Group, Mail Bid Sale 81 (20 May 2009), Lot 555 (acsearch.info URL)
Figure 7:	Leu Numismatik, Web Auction 29 (24 February 2024), Lot 774 (acsearch.info URL)
Figure 8:	Leu Numismatik, Web Auction 29 (24 February 2024), Lot 770 (acsearch.info URL)
Figure 9:	Leu Numismatik, Web Auction 29 (24 February 2024), Lot 783 (acsearch.info URL)
Figure 10:	Numismatik Naumann, Auction 120 (4 September 2022), Lot 337 (acsearch.info URL)