Large numbers of countermarks occur on coins of Aspendos in Pamphylia and Selge in Pisidia. The affected issues include staters with a warrior on the obverse and a triskeles formed of three human legs on the reverse (Aspendos), staters with wrestlers on the obverse and a slinger on the reverse (Aspendos and Selge), and drachms with a warrior on horseback on the obverse and a boar on the reverse (Aspendos). Some of these countermarks depict a kneeling goat with its head turned back. The same pose appears on coins of Kelenderis in Cilicia. As on the Kelenderis coins, the goat faces either right (Figure 1; Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 20) or left (Figures 2–5; Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 21). These countermarks may therefore have been applied by Kelenderis to certify the coins for circulation within its territory, as Imhoof-Blumer already suggested (ibid., pp. 314 and 453). Alternatively, Kelenderis may have authorised Aspendos and Selge to apply its countermark, allowing the marked coins to circulate in trade between the cities as equivalents of Kelenderis coinage (a comparable practice is attested in several Pamphylian cities in relation to the Attalid Kingdom and the Seleukid Empire in the 2nd century BC; see Bresson 2018). Nevertheless, a different purpose or origin for the countermarks cannot be excluded.

Six other goat countermark types also occur on these coins: a goat’s head facing right (Figure 6; Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, no. 22) or left (Figure 7), a goat standing right (Figures 8–9) or left (Figure 10), and a goat standing right or left beneath a horizontal crescent (Imhoof-Blumer 1902, p. 313, nos. 18–19). Their association with Kelenderis is less likely, however, because Kelenderis coins depict only a kneeling goat or the forepart of one.

Goat countermarks on Pamphylian coins:

1. goat kneeling right with head turned back

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

2. goat kneeling left with head turned back

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 an inverted crescent; goat kneeling right with its head turned back; and two uncertain countermarks.

 

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

Countermarks: at lower left, a goat kneeling left with its head turned back; at upper right, an uncertain countermark.

 

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

Countermark between the slinger’s legs: a goat kneeling left with its head turned back.

 

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

Countermarks, clockwise from the right: lion or panther standing left; an uncertain countermark; janiform male heads; goat kneeling left with its head turned back; and a bull facing right, with a shield in profile above.

 

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

Countermarks: at right, a goat kneeling left with its head turned back; on the boar’s flank, two uncertain countermarks.

 

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

Countermarks: at lower left, a goat’s head facing right; between the slinger’s legs, an uncertain cypher.

 

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

Countermarks: at upper left, a triskeles; between the slinger’s legs, a goat’s head facing left; in the right field, a lion’s head facing right and an owl standing left.

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

Countermarks: at upper right, a goat standing left; at lower right, an uncertain countermark.

 

Credits:
Figure 1:	Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica identifier: ark:/12148/btv1b85144948 = 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)