Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 96 14-15 February 2017
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Macedonia, Skione. Silver Tetradrachm (1.48 g), ca. 470-460 BC. Head of Protesilaos right, wearing crested Attic helmet, the crest inscribed ΠPOTEΣΛAΣ[] (retrograde). Reverse: Σ-K-[I]-O, stern of galley left. within incuse square. SNG ANS -; ACGC 470; Dewing 1076. Very Rare. Lightly toned. Very Fine. Estimate Value $4,000 - UP
The Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from F. Kovacs in 1993.
Protesilaos, the son of Iphikles, received special worship at Skione and other cities in Thrace and Thessaly. He appears in the Trojan myth cycle, first as one of the suitors of Helen and then as one of the regional leaders in the Trojan War. He contributed forty black ships to the cause of Agamemnon against Paris, but made the fatal mistake of being the first Greek to leap onto the Trojan shores at the outbreak of hostilities. According to the largely lost Cypria epic of Stasinos, an oracle foretold that the first Greek to touch the earth of the Troad would be doomed to die first in the great Trojan War. The oracle turned out to be true. Protesilaos killed four Trojans in battle after coming ashore, but then he was himself slain by the mighty Hektor.Because the name of Protesilaos describes his act of leaping first from his ship, some ancient mythographers suggested that this was a later epithet given to the hero and that his true name was actually Iolaos. Regardless of whether he is correctly referred to as Protesilaos or Iolaos, his death was a tragedy so great that the gods even permitted his shade to briefly return from Hades in order to bid farewell his wife, Laodamia. Overcome with grief for the loss of her husband, she had a bronze statue of Protesilaos constructed, which she cared for as if it were alive. Fearing for her sanity, Laodamia's father ordered the image melted down, but she followed it into the fire.
The Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from F. Kovacs in 1993.
Protesilaos, the son of Iphikles, received special worship at Skione and other cities in Thrace and Thessaly. He appears in the Trojan myth cycle, first as one of the suitors of Helen and then as one of the regional leaders in the Trojan War. He contributed forty black ships to the cause of Agamemnon against Paris, but made the fatal mistake of being the first Greek to leap onto the Trojan shores at the outbreak of hostilities. According to the largely lost Cypria epic of Stasinos, an oracle foretold that the first Greek to touch the earth of the Troad would be doomed to die first in the great Trojan War. The oracle turned out to be true. Protesilaos killed four Trojans in battle after coming ashore, but then he was himself slain by the mighty Hektor.Because the name of Protesilaos describes his act of leaping first from his ship, some ancient mythographers suggested that this was a later epithet given to the hero and that his true name was actually Iolaos. Regardless of whether he is correctly referred to as Protesilaos or Iolaos, his death was a tragedy so great that the gods even permitted his shade to briefly return from Hades in order to bid farewell his wife, Laodamia. Overcome with grief for the loss of her husband, she had a bronze statue of Protesilaos constructed, which she cared for as if it were alive. Fearing for her sanity, Laodamia's father ordered the image melted down, but she followed it into the fire.