Watch List notes:

Greek Coins

Cyprus, Amathus, King Zotimos (?), circa 385 – 380. Stater or didrachm, AR 6.49 g. Lion recumbent r.; above, eagle, with spread wings, flying r.; in exergue, Cypriote legend off flan. Rev. Forepart of lion r., with open jaws and tongue protruding; between jaw and paws, zo ti mo in Cypriote characters. Traité II 1266, pl. CXXXII, 23 (these dies). Jameson 1622 (this coin). Amandry, Amathonte 130,1a.1 (this coin). Tziambazis 7.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. Old cabinet tone and good very fine

Ex Hirsch XVI, 1906, 672; Leu-M&M 3 December 1965, Niggeler, 448; M&M 54, 1978, 346; Triton XV, 2012, 1259 and Triton XVII, 2014, 354 sales. From the Jameson collection.
Due to the existence in Boston of a stater of Entimos with the same obverse die, the attribution of this specimen to King Zotimos requires further evidence.
Amathus was an enigmatic settlement on Cyprus founded around 1100 BC. This is not especially old when we consider that most cities of Cyprus were already well established in the Bronze Age. The comparative youth of Amathos has been a cause of some perplexity among scholars because of a Greek tradition that the inhabitants were autochthonous and the indisputable fact that they spoke an Eteocypriot language written down using the Cypriot syllabic script. This same script - a descendent of the Linear A script of the Bronze Age Minoan culture - appears on the reverse of this coin, naming the obscure local king, Zotimos. Despite the use of the local script his name indicates a Greek origin.
Amathus was known in antiquity for its local cult of Aphrodite, which was notable for its inclusion of a bearded male counterpart called Aphroditos by Greek authors. The city also seems to have had a cult of Herakles, which has been linked to the possible influence of the Phoenician deity Melqart, who was regularly syncretized with Greek Herakles already in the early fifth century BC. The lions depicted on the present coin may perhaps allude to Herakles, who was of course well known for slaying the Nemean lion and wearing its skin in his subsequent tasks and adventures. On the other hand the lions might also be simple emblems of royal power and majesty easily recognizable to both Greek and Semitic elements of the population on Cyprus.