Watch List notes:

Greek coins

Lapethus, king AB or an uncertain mint in Cyprus circa 490. Siglos circa 490, AR 9.92 g. Gorgoneion advancing l. Rev. Heracles advancing l., holding in r. hand bow and club in l.; in r. field, head. All within incuse square. Traité II –. BMC –. Tziambazis –. SNG Copenhagen –. Rosen 750 (this coin). Asyut, p. 126, fig. 2, D (this coin). Kagan NC 1994, pl. 5, C and 7, D (this coin). SilCoinCy –.
Of the highest rarity, apparently only the second specimen known. A very interesting
and fascinating issue whose attribution is still a matter of debate. Old cabinet
tone, obverse off-centre, otherwise good very fine / about extremely fine
Ex Leu 13, 1975, 294 and Ariadne Galleries & Gallerie des Monnaies 9 December 1981, 268 sales. From the Asyut hoard and the Rosen collection.
When this dramatic piece was first discovered as part of the Asyut Hoard, it was identified as a possible early issue of Lapithos, a Cypriot city with a mixed Phoenician and Greek population. More recent scholarship has doubted the specific attribution to Lapithos, instead preferring an uncertain mint on Cyprus. Most recently, an attempt has been made to reattribute the coin to southern Asia Minor (see commentary to Triton XXII, lot 282) on the basis of flan fabric and association with other issues featuring a winged man-faced bull. However, the fabric argument is not convincing and the use of a Phoenician legend makes no sense on a coin of Asia Minor. This novel and highly implausible attribution should be ignored. The search for the true mint must be made in Phoenicia or Cyprus, both regions where one would expect to find Phoenician coin inscriptions. The Phoenician legend has been variously interpreted as part of the name 'B[D] or as the retrograde name of the god Ba'al (B'[L]) ("Lord") which was often part of Phoenician theophoric names. This latter reading seems doubtful since one would expect the letter beth (B) to be turned in the other direction for a true retrograde inscription. The obverse type has been identified as a representation of Medusa since the coin was discovered in c. 1970. This identification is easy to accept since the facing head with protruding tongue is easily recognised from Greek depictions of the greatest of the Gorgon sisters. However, it has been argued very recently that the figure here should not be considered to be Medusa on the basis of the figure's four wings, which do not conform to the curved form of Medusa's wings on Greek vase depictions. Their style is more in keeping with the wings of Near Eastern deities. Likewise, the Medusa identification is doubted because the figure seems to have a tail-a feature never associated with the Gorgon. Instead, the argument was made that a Phoenician deity is depicted here and Ba'al suggested under the influence of the implausible retrograde reading of the legend. A more likely identification for the deity might be the apotropaic dwarf-god Bes. This Egyptian deity was regularly depicted with a facing head and protruding tongue like Greek Medusa and sported the tail of a lion. In his pantheistic form, he was often depicted with four straight wings. He was adopted from Egypt by the Phoenicians early on and was worshipped both in Phoenicia proper, on Cyprus, and even further afield in Carthage and settlements further to the West (the Balearic island of Ebusus, which was colonized by Phoenicians, is named after him). If the identification of the obverse figure as a Phoenician form of Bes is correct then the apparent reverse depiction of Heracles should be understood as the Tyrian god Melqart ("King of the City"), who was identified with Greek Heracles already in the fifth century BC.