Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XV 5 Apr 2018
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Northwest Asia Minor, uncertain EL Stater. Circa 600-560 BC. Phokaic standard. Chimaera, with the body of a lion, the head of a goat rising from its back, and its tail ending in the head of a serpent, standing to left / Two irregularly divided incuse squares, one larger than the other. BMC 41, pl. II, 2 = B.V. Head, 'Metrological Notes on the Ancient Electrum Coins struck between the Lelantian Wars and the Accession of Darius', NC 1875, pp. 285-8, pl. X, 9 = Head, A Guide to the Principal Coins of the Greeks, Period I. A, 18, pl. 1; New York Sale XXX, 142 (same dies). 16.56g, 20mm.
Extremely Fine. Of the greatest rarity; one of three specimens known, with only two in private hands, the present example being the finest known of the type.
The earliest surviving literary reference to the Chimaera is found in Homer's Iliad, where the monster is described as "a thing of immortal make, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire". In his Theogeny, Hesiod elaborates further on the mythology of the creature, casting it as an offspring of Echidna - half woman, half snake - who along with her mate Typhon was the mother of many of the most famous monsters of Greek myth, such as Orthrus, Cerberus, the Lernaean Hydra, the Sphinx, Skylla, and the Nemean lion. Appearing at an early stage in the repertory of the proto-Corinthian vase painters, the Chimaera provides us with some of the earliest identifiable mythological scenes in Greek art. Initially the depiction of the Chimaera varies from artist to artist, but became fixed around the 670s with the proliferation and distribution of its image on painted pottery. These variations have suggested to some, including Marilyn Low Schmitt ('Bellerophon and the Chimaera in Archaic Greek Art' American Journal of Archaeology 1966), the possibility of multiple autonomous traditions.
The depiction of the Chimaera on this extraordinary rarity has no relation to the type's later appearances on the coinage of Corinth or Sikyon, which were given as early suggestions by scholars for the possible origin of this coin. Other suggestions, including the possibility that the coin could have been struck at Zeleia, on account of this city having had a Lycian population, cannot be proven. Like so many early electrum coins, all that can be ascertained with a reasonable degree of certainty is that the type was produced somewhere in northwestern Asia Minor, and that it is probably related to the 'shield series' staters which feature a similar reverse double-punch.
Extremely Fine. Of the greatest rarity; one of three specimens known, with only two in private hands, the present example being the finest known of the type.
The earliest surviving literary reference to the Chimaera is found in Homer's Iliad, where the monster is described as "a thing of immortal make, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire". In his Theogeny, Hesiod elaborates further on the mythology of the creature, casting it as an offspring of Echidna - half woman, half snake - who along with her mate Typhon was the mother of many of the most famous monsters of Greek myth, such as Orthrus, Cerberus, the Lernaean Hydra, the Sphinx, Skylla, and the Nemean lion. Appearing at an early stage in the repertory of the proto-Corinthian vase painters, the Chimaera provides us with some of the earliest identifiable mythological scenes in Greek art. Initially the depiction of the Chimaera varies from artist to artist, but became fixed around the 670s with the proliferation and distribution of its image on painted pottery. These variations have suggested to some, including Marilyn Low Schmitt ('Bellerophon and the Chimaera in Archaic Greek Art' American Journal of Archaeology 1966), the possibility of multiple autonomous traditions.
The depiction of the Chimaera on this extraordinary rarity has no relation to the type's later appearances on the coinage of Corinth or Sikyon, which were given as early suggestions by scholars for the possible origin of this coin. Other suggestions, including the possibility that the coin could have been struck at Zeleia, on account of this city having had a Lycian population, cannot be proven. Like so many early electrum coins, all that can be ascertained with a reasonable degree of certainty is that the type was produced somewhere in northwestern Asia Minor, and that it is probably related to the 'shield series' staters which feature a similar reverse double-punch.