Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVI 26 Sep 2018
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Antoninus Pius Æ Drachm of Egypt, Alexandria. Dated RY 5 = AD 141/142. AYT K T AIΛ A∆P ANTѠNINOC CЄB ЄYC, laureate head right / Achilles and the Centaur Chiron walking to right, Chiron with left foreleg raised, head and human torso turned towards Achilles, holding a helmet in his left hand, his right arm across the shoulder of the young Achilles who holds a spear in his right hand and places his left around Chiron; between them billows Achilles' cloak, LЄ (date) in exergue. Köln 1873 (same dies); Dattari (Savio) 2505 & 8369; K&G -; Emmett 1485.5 (R5); Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 135 (this coin). 23.86g, 34mm, 1h.
Very Fine. Wonderful surfaces with a dark brown patina with hints of green and red. Extremely Rare; probably the finest known specimen of the type.
Ex Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection, Triton XXI, 9 January 2018, lot 164;
Ex Kerry K. Wetterstrom Collection, Classical Numismatic Auctions XIII, 4 December 1990, lot 218.
Numismatic artistry flourished at the mint of Alexandria during the early years of Antoninus Pius' reign with the introduction of an ambitious range of new reverse types. This coin is a rarity of the mythological series, alongside which the Labours of Hercules and the signs of the Zodiac were also produced. The reason for these strikingly different pictorial types has been examined by J.G. Milne, who suggests that a masterful Greek artist was active for a limited time at Alexandria, producing imagery previously unfamiliar to Egypt and later copied in a less expert style (speaking specifically about the Hercules series, see Pictorial Coin-Types at the Roman Mint of Alexandria, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 39, 1943). This artist seemed to work exclusively on bronze drachms which in comparison to smaller silver and bronze denominations were naturally preferable for these new medallic designs.
The childhood of Achilles was only briefly touched upon in the Homeric cycle; it is not until much later that the story is embellished and his early years described at length. That Achilles was tutored by the wise centaur Chiron was mentioned in Homer's Iliad, not an unusual upbringing for a mythical hero as many other heroes including Herakles, Jason, Perseus and Theseus were also trained by Chiron as youths. The work which is the most descriptive in presenting Achilles' time with Chiron on Mount Pelion is Statius' unfinished epic, the Achilleid, published in the first century AD, which also covers his time on Skyros where he was hidden by his mother Thetis, disguised as a girl so that he might avoid his fated death should he go to Troy and war. Statius expanded upon the surviving Greek sources for Achilles' upbringing with Chiron, portraying the centaur as more than a teacher and mentor, adapting his role into that of a loving foster father. Thus Achilles, when later describing what he ate when growing up, refers to Chiron as such: "thus that father [pater] of mine used to feed me" (2.102). Statius may have been following a theme begun by Ovid some years earlier; in Fasti (5.412) Achilles laments at Chiron's death, saying "Live, I beg you; don't leave me, dear father [pater]!" It was perhaps with such thoughts in mind that the engraver here portrays Achilles and Chiron: the old centaur drapes his left arm in an affectionate, paternal manner across the youth's shoulder, a gesture which Achilles reciprocates, as the two walk together. Chiron carries Achilles helmet, while Achilles himself rests his spear across his shoulder, the point of which emerges on the far side of Chiron, behind him. It may be that we are invited to see in this scene the end of a day's training: "Already at that time weapons were in my hand... Never would he suffer me to follow unwarlike deer through the pathless glens of Ossa, or lay low timid lynxes with my spear, but only to drive angry bears from their resting-places, and boars with lightning thrust; or if anywhere a mighty tiger lurked or a lioness with her cubs in some secret lair upon the mountain-side, he himself, seated in his vast cave, awaited my exploits, if perchance I should return bespattered with dark blood; nor did he admit me to his embrace before he had scanned my weapons" (2.106-128)".
Very Fine. Wonderful surfaces with a dark brown patina with hints of green and red. Extremely Rare; probably the finest known specimen of the type.
Ex Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection, Triton XXI, 9 January 2018, lot 164;
Ex Kerry K. Wetterstrom Collection, Classical Numismatic Auctions XIII, 4 December 1990, lot 218.
Numismatic artistry flourished at the mint of Alexandria during the early years of Antoninus Pius' reign with the introduction of an ambitious range of new reverse types. This coin is a rarity of the mythological series, alongside which the Labours of Hercules and the signs of the Zodiac were also produced. The reason for these strikingly different pictorial types has been examined by J.G. Milne, who suggests that a masterful Greek artist was active for a limited time at Alexandria, producing imagery previously unfamiliar to Egypt and later copied in a less expert style (speaking specifically about the Hercules series, see Pictorial Coin-Types at the Roman Mint of Alexandria, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 39, 1943). This artist seemed to work exclusively on bronze drachms which in comparison to smaller silver and bronze denominations were naturally preferable for these new medallic designs.
The childhood of Achilles was only briefly touched upon in the Homeric cycle; it is not until much later that the story is embellished and his early years described at length. That Achilles was tutored by the wise centaur Chiron was mentioned in Homer's Iliad, not an unusual upbringing for a mythical hero as many other heroes including Herakles, Jason, Perseus and Theseus were also trained by Chiron as youths. The work which is the most descriptive in presenting Achilles' time with Chiron on Mount Pelion is Statius' unfinished epic, the Achilleid, published in the first century AD, which also covers his time on Skyros where he was hidden by his mother Thetis, disguised as a girl so that he might avoid his fated death should he go to Troy and war. Statius expanded upon the surviving Greek sources for Achilles' upbringing with Chiron, portraying the centaur as more than a teacher and mentor, adapting his role into that of a loving foster father. Thus Achilles, when later describing what he ate when growing up, refers to Chiron as such: "thus that father [pater] of mine used to feed me" (2.102). Statius may have been following a theme begun by Ovid some years earlier; in Fasti (5.412) Achilles laments at Chiron's death, saying "Live, I beg you; don't leave me, dear father [pater]!" It was perhaps with such thoughts in mind that the engraver here portrays Achilles and Chiron: the old centaur drapes his left arm in an affectionate, paternal manner across the youth's shoulder, a gesture which Achilles reciprocates, as the two walk together. Chiron carries Achilles helmet, while Achilles himself rests his spear across his shoulder, the point of which emerges on the far side of Chiron, behind him. It may be that we are invited to see in this scene the end of a day's training: "Already at that time weapons were in my hand... Never would he suffer me to follow unwarlike deer through the pathless glens of Ossa, or lay low timid lynxes with my spear, but only to drive angry bears from their resting-places, and boars with lightning thrust; or if anywhere a mighty tiger lurked or a lioness with her cubs in some secret lair upon the mountain-side, he himself, seated in his vast cave, awaited my exploits, if perchance I should return bespattered with dark blood; nor did he admit me to his embrace before he had scanned my weapons" (2.106-128)".