Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVIII 29 Sep 2019
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Mysia, Kyzikos EL Stater. Circa 400-350 BC. Bust of Hera left, wearing earring and mural crown and with her hair curled up behind her head, holding sceptre over right shoulder; tunny fish to left below neck truncation / Granulated quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze -; Hurter & Liewald, SNR 81 (2002), pg. 23 & pl. 1, no. 2a (same dies). 16.04g, 22mm.
Near Extremely Fine; struck from an obverse die of delightfully feminine style. Extremely Rare; Hurter & Liewald knew of only two examples of the type.
From the property of Konstantin Barkovskiy.
The bust depicted on this coin is described by Hurter & Liewald as being that of Hera, who despite her prominent rank among the gods and the frequency with which she appears in myth, is considerably under-represented on the coinage of the Greeks. The reasons for this may be subconsciously rooted in the supplanting of the Aegean pre-Hellenic matriarchal culture with the Indo-European male dominated culture of the 'Greeks' that took place during the Dark Age of Greek history (see C. G. Thomas, Matriarchy in Early Greece: The Bronze and Dark Ages) and the consequent replacement of early mother-goddess cults with the patriarchal Olympian pantheon in which Hera is often assigned the role of the jealous and capricious meddler. Where veneration of Hera persisted she is portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the polos. Later representations of Hera varied her headdress quite considerably, and it is not impossible that the mural crown worn by representations of the syncretised Hera-Tyche evolved from the leaf crown that already existed in the prehistoric Creto-Mycenaean area and which was later characteristically utilised by the Dorians and Illyrians (for further discussion see Chrysoula Kardara, Problems of Hera's Cult-Images, in American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 64, no. 4, October 1960). Hurter & Liewald note that neither Hera nor Kybele (who is also often depicted with mural crown, and thus a possible alternative identification for the here-depicted goddess) are represented elsewhere in Greek numismatics with a sceptre attribute.
Near Extremely Fine; struck from an obverse die of delightfully feminine style. Extremely Rare; Hurter & Liewald knew of only two examples of the type.
From the property of Konstantin Barkovskiy.
The bust depicted on this coin is described by Hurter & Liewald as being that of Hera, who despite her prominent rank among the gods and the frequency with which she appears in myth, is considerably under-represented on the coinage of the Greeks. The reasons for this may be subconsciously rooted in the supplanting of the Aegean pre-Hellenic matriarchal culture with the Indo-European male dominated culture of the 'Greeks' that took place during the Dark Age of Greek history (see C. G. Thomas, Matriarchy in Early Greece: The Bronze and Dark Ages) and the consequent replacement of early mother-goddess cults with the patriarchal Olympian pantheon in which Hera is often assigned the role of the jealous and capricious meddler. Where veneration of Hera persisted she is portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the polos. Later representations of Hera varied her headdress quite considerably, and it is not impossible that the mural crown worn by representations of the syncretised Hera-Tyche evolved from the leaf crown that already existed in the prehistoric Creto-Mycenaean area and which was later characteristically utilised by the Dorians and Illyrians (for further discussion see Chrysoula Kardara, Problems of Hera's Cult-Images, in American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 64, no. 4, October 1960). Hurter & Liewald note that neither Hera nor Kybele (who is also often depicted with mural crown, and thus a possible alternative identification for the here-depicted goddess) are represented elsewhere in Greek numismatics with a sceptre attribute.