Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XII 29 September 2016
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Lucania, Herakleia AR Stater. Circa 330 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing single-pendant earring, necklace, and crested Attic helmet decorated with Skylla throwing stone held in right hand; EY to right / |-HPAKΛEIΩN, Herakles wrestling the Nemean lion: Herakles stands facing, head and upper body turned to left, right hand holding club behind body, left hand grasping lion's throat; fluted jug beneath. [Club and AΠΟΛ to left]. Work 47 (same dies); Van Keuren 51 (same obv. die); HN Italy 1378; SNG ANS 66; SNG Lloyd -; Basel -; Bement 138 (same obv. die); Gulbenkian -; Hunterian 7 (same dies); McClean 825 (same obv. die); Weber 706 (same dies). 7.76g, 21mm, 4h.
Good Extremely Fine. Rare. An excellent example of this type, one of the finest to have come to the market in the past fifteen years.
From the Ambrose Collection;
Ex Gemini VII, 9 January 2011, lot 30.
The flourishing of an artistic culture in Herakleia is attested by the beauty and variety of its coinage, and that they survive in relative profusion is demonstrative of the wealth and commercial importance of the city. Despite this, it is not often that one encounters them in as good a state of preservation as is the case with the present coin.
The depiction of Herakles on the reverse of this coin places the hero in a typical fighting stance of the Greek martial discipline Pankration, or Pammachon (total combat) as it was earlier known. Indeed, this fighting style was said to have been the invention of Herakles and Theseus as a result of their using both wresting and boxing in their encounters with opponents. The stance portrayed on this coin is paralleled on an Attic black-figure vase in the BM depicting two competitors, one in a choke hold similar to that of the lion here. The composition of this design is very deliberate - as the lion leaps forwards, Herakles who had been facing the lion, turns his body sideways. The myths tell us that Herakles had first stunned the beast with his club, and now he dodges the lion's bite and reaches his right arm around its head to place it in a choke hold. Impressively careful attention has been paid to the detail on this die, including realistic rendering of the hero's musculature, which has been engraved in fine style.
Good Extremely Fine. Rare. An excellent example of this type, one of the finest to have come to the market in the past fifteen years.
From the Ambrose Collection;
Ex Gemini VII, 9 January 2011, lot 30.
The flourishing of an artistic culture in Herakleia is attested by the beauty and variety of its coinage, and that they survive in relative profusion is demonstrative of the wealth and commercial importance of the city. Despite this, it is not often that one encounters them in as good a state of preservation as is the case with the present coin.
The depiction of Herakles on the reverse of this coin places the hero in a typical fighting stance of the Greek martial discipline Pankration, or Pammachon (total combat) as it was earlier known. Indeed, this fighting style was said to have been the invention of Herakles and Theseus as a result of their using both wresting and boxing in their encounters with opponents. The stance portrayed on this coin is paralleled on an Attic black-figure vase in the BM depicting two competitors, one in a choke hold similar to that of the lion here. The composition of this design is very deliberate - as the lion leaps forwards, Herakles who had been facing the lion, turns his body sideways. The myths tell us that Herakles had first stunned the beast with his club, and now he dodges the lion's bite and reaches his right arm around its head to place it in a choke hold. Impressively careful attention has been paid to the detail on this die, including realistic rendering of the hero's musculature, which has been engraved in fine style.