Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVII 28 Mar 2019
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Karia, Knidos AR Tetradrachm. Circa 200 BC. Head of Apollo right, wearing laurel wreath / Artemis Hyakinthotrophos standing facing, head left, holding phiale in extended right hand, her left arm resting on the statue of an archaic deity with a sheathed body and wearing a polos; to lower left, forepart of stag standing left, upon which drips liquid from Artemis' phiale; KNIΔION to right. G. Le Rider, "Un tétradrachme hellénistique de Cnide" in Essays Thompson, pp. 155–7 and pl. 18, 1 = BN inventory FRBNF41778907; Roma XIII, 335. 16.43g, 35mm, 11h.
Near Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; apparently only the third known example, and the first from these dies.
The third known specimen after the example in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and that sold in Roma Numismatics XIII (lot 335), this exceptionally rare type depicts Artemis Hyakinthotrophos (literally: 'Artemis, nurse of Hyakinthos'), who as a result of her repeated manifestations during Philip V of Macedon's siege of Knidos in 201 BC, was believed by her divine will to have secured victory for the Knidians, and thus was accorded the epithet Epiphanes. In her honour a panhellenic festival with games was instituted. Two surviving inscriptions confirm the augmentation of what must have been a smaller, local festival: a text from Kos containing the Knidian decree of invitation and the Koans acknowledgement of the 200 BC Hyakinthotrophia; a second inscription may be found at the Knidian treasury at Delphi - a Delphic decree of recognition. That text states that Knidos has sent ambassadors to Delphi and has undertaken to increase the honours of the goddess, asking Delphi to join in this effort; Delphi decrees to praise the Knidians for the piety they show Artemis Hyakinthotrophos. Several victors in the panhellenic Hyakinthotrophia are subsequently attested in late Hellenistic inscriptions.
Apart from these few surviving inscriptions, little else is known of Artemis Hyakinthotrophos or her festival - the present state of literary and archaeological evidence means that this aspect of the goddess remains nebulous. The use of the epithetic Hyakinthotrophos for Artemis, is unusual and at present unexplained, since she does not feature in the traditional myth of Hyakinthos, the hero-youth beloved by Apollo, who was accidentally killed by the god. The epithet perhaps suggests that she was responsible for tending to either Hyakinthos or to her brother Apollo with that epithet, however an alternative interpretation is that the epithet referred to the raising of beautiful boys in general, since the goddess is also attested with the epithet of kourotrophos, and was worshipped for her protection of those rearing infants.
The striking of coinage for the specific occasion of panhellenic games is well attested, from the earliest Olympian coinage issued for the purpose of the Games, to the coinage issued by Antiochos IV Epiphanes for his augmented festival of Apollo at Daphne in 166/5 BC. Given the extreme rarity of the coinage indicating a brief output, it seems reasonable to conclude that this type was produced for this event.
Near Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; apparently only the third known example, and the first from these dies.
The third known specimen after the example in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and that sold in Roma Numismatics XIII (lot 335), this exceptionally rare type depicts Artemis Hyakinthotrophos (literally: 'Artemis, nurse of Hyakinthos'), who as a result of her repeated manifestations during Philip V of Macedon's siege of Knidos in 201 BC, was believed by her divine will to have secured victory for the Knidians, and thus was accorded the epithet Epiphanes. In her honour a panhellenic festival with games was instituted. Two surviving inscriptions confirm the augmentation of what must have been a smaller, local festival: a text from Kos containing the Knidian decree of invitation and the Koans acknowledgement of the 200 BC Hyakinthotrophia; a second inscription may be found at the Knidian treasury at Delphi - a Delphic decree of recognition. That text states that Knidos has sent ambassadors to Delphi and has undertaken to increase the honours of the goddess, asking Delphi to join in this effort; Delphi decrees to praise the Knidians for the piety they show Artemis Hyakinthotrophos. Several victors in the panhellenic Hyakinthotrophia are subsequently attested in late Hellenistic inscriptions.
Apart from these few surviving inscriptions, little else is known of Artemis Hyakinthotrophos or her festival - the present state of literary and archaeological evidence means that this aspect of the goddess remains nebulous. The use of the epithetic Hyakinthotrophos for Artemis, is unusual and at present unexplained, since she does not feature in the traditional myth of Hyakinthos, the hero-youth beloved by Apollo, who was accidentally killed by the god. The epithet perhaps suggests that she was responsible for tending to either Hyakinthos or to her brother Apollo with that epithet, however an alternative interpretation is that the epithet referred to the raising of beautiful boys in general, since the goddess is also attested with the epithet of kourotrophos, and was worshipped for her protection of those rearing infants.
The striking of coinage for the specific occasion of panhellenic games is well attested, from the earliest Olympian coinage issued for the purpose of the Games, to the coinage issued by Antiochos IV Epiphanes for his augmented festival of Apollo at Daphne in 166/5 BC. Given the extreme rarity of the coinage indicating a brief output, it seems reasonable to conclude that this type was produced for this event.