Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVI 26 Sep 2018
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Cilicia, Mallos AR Stater. Circa 440-400 BC. Bearded male deity with two pairs of wings in kneeling-running stance to left, holding solar disc with both hands / Swan standing to right, eagle upon its back; MAPΛO before, all within incuse circle. BMC -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG France -, cf. 375-6 (same obverse die?); SNG Levante -; Traité 1394, pl. CXXXVII, 20; Casabonne -; MIMAA -. 11.18g, 20mm, 3h.
Extremely Fine. Apparently the second known example.
From a private North American collection.
Mallos (archaically known as Marlotas) issued a rich coinage between the early fifth century and 333 BC, when it came under Macedonian hegemony, featuring Greek deities including Herakles, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes, Dionysos and Demeter, as well as securely identifiable oriental deities such as Baal and Ahuramazda.
The solar deity present on the obverse of this coin is sometimes identified as Kronos (a Semitic god more properly known as 'El', and distinct from the Greek Titan and father of the Olympian gods, but with whom he was syncretised by Greeks). This seems eminently logical, since the spiral attribute, used on later issues - which Robert Graves called a 'spiral of immortality' (The White Goddess, 1948), a symbol of power most likely appropriated from the Red Crown of Lower Egypt - and solar disc attributes do not belong to any Olympian deity, but to one of near-Eastern origin. It has moreover been suggested that Mallos was originally of Phoenician foundation (see IACP, 1009) on the basis of its original ethnik, a suggestion supported by the presence of other Semitic deities portrayed on the city's coinage, as well as the use of Aramaic legends.
Curiously, the attribute of the solar disc is one with few parallels in the archaeological record. In a similar pose, a male solar deity is carrying a sun disc on a 6th century orientalising archaic Greek scarab from Cyprus, and an alabastron from the Isis tomb at Vulci, Etruria (suggested locations for its manufacture are Cyprus and Phoenicia) depicts a female carrying a winged sun disc. Possibly related also are Phoenician terracotta figurines from Punic sites holding a disc in front of them. In all cases a Semitic origin is apparent, further strengthening the likelihood that the deity of this coin should be the Semitic solar god 'El'.
Extremely Fine. Apparently the second known example.
From a private North American collection.
Mallos (archaically known as Marlotas) issued a rich coinage between the early fifth century and 333 BC, when it came under Macedonian hegemony, featuring Greek deities including Herakles, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes, Dionysos and Demeter, as well as securely identifiable oriental deities such as Baal and Ahuramazda.
The solar deity present on the obverse of this coin is sometimes identified as Kronos (a Semitic god more properly known as 'El', and distinct from the Greek Titan and father of the Olympian gods, but with whom he was syncretised by Greeks). This seems eminently logical, since the spiral attribute, used on later issues - which Robert Graves called a 'spiral of immortality' (The White Goddess, 1948), a symbol of power most likely appropriated from the Red Crown of Lower Egypt - and solar disc attributes do not belong to any Olympian deity, but to one of near-Eastern origin. It has moreover been suggested that Mallos was originally of Phoenician foundation (see IACP, 1009) on the basis of its original ethnik, a suggestion supported by the presence of other Semitic deities portrayed on the city's coinage, as well as the use of Aramaic legends.
Curiously, the attribute of the solar disc is one with few parallels in the archaeological record. In a similar pose, a male solar deity is carrying a sun disc on a 6th century orientalising archaic Greek scarab from Cyprus, and an alabastron from the Isis tomb at Vulci, Etruria (suggested locations for its manufacture are Cyprus and Phoenicia) depicts a female carrying a winged sun disc. Possibly related also are Phoenician terracotta figurines from Punic sites holding a disc in front of them. In all cases a Semitic origin is apparent, further strengthening the likelihood that the deity of this coin should be the Semitic solar god 'El'.