Watch List notes:

Greek Coins
Dynasts of Lycia, Teththiveibi, circa 440-430 BC. Stater, uncertain mint circa 440-430 BC, AR 8.35 g.

Description

Two cocks standing vis-à-vis on a convex shield; between them, monogram. Rev. tetthiweibi in Lycian characters Tetraskeles within dotted square; all within incuse square.

References
Traité II, –, cf. 328 (triobol)
Mørkholm-Zahle II L.
Vismara 140
SNG Copenhagen Suppl. –
SNG von Aulock 4158

Condition
Rare. Old cabinet tone and about extremely fine

Provenance
Leu sale 77, 2000, 349
Peus 407, 2012, 738

Due to its strategic location on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor between the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean, the mountainous region of Lycia came to play an important part in the interaction between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and the Greek world. In 546 B.C., the Persian general Harpagos invaded Lycia by means of the important town of Xanthos, and soon the entire region had succumbed to Persian hegemony. However, while Lycian forces were mustered for Xerxes' ill-fated invasion of Greece, Persian control was not permanent; for a short period, even, during the height of Athens' power in the mid-fifth, century Lycia contributed to the Delian League. Until the conquest by the Macedonian armies of Alexander the Great, though, Lycia remained largely autonomous, absorbing foreign ideas and artistic themes but resisting outside interference in her internal affairs.
It comes as no surprise, then, that when the Lycians first struck coins beginning sometime during the last quarter of the sixth century, she followed archaic conventions found elsewhere throughout Greater Hellas, although with some differences, the most obvious being the peculiarly local standard of about 9.5 g. These first silver staters were substantially uniform, and showed the forepart of a boar on the obverse and an incuse punch, which soon developed, on the reverse. After the incorporation of Lycia into the Persian Empire as part of the first satrapy, the coinage became much more diverse, perhaps evidence of coinage's spread throughout the region and the opening of several new mints.
The relaxation of Persian control and interference from mainland Greeks in Lycia appears to have encouraged the rise of independent dynasts in the cities. Although very little is certain about the history of these dynasts – for instance, we know practically nothing about the reign of the dynast Teththiveibi in whose name this handsome stater was struck – they struck hundreds of interesting coin types. The principal subjects of the obverses of Lycian coins at this type were animals or mythological creatures, and a few deities. The influence of the great cities of Hellas is also felt: types such as the helmeted head of Athena and her owl were obviously inspired by Athens, and the Pegasos which is featured on many Lycian staters comes from the coinage of Corinth and her colonies. Along with these western-inspired elements of coin design, we begin to see the use of the Attic standard in the regions of western Lycia. The reverses continued the incuse manufacture of the preceding boar staters, but often the dynast's name in the local Lycian script surrounding a triskeles or tetraskeles became predominant, with the triskeles and tetraskeles perhaps indicating the federal element of the local Lycian form of government.
On this coin we have a depiction of two cocks confronted with a small Lycian symbol between their feet, the scene perhaps covering the central tondo of a shield. The birds are nearly identical, and with their chests puffed and tails erect, looking eye to eye, they seem poised to fight..