Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 116 1 Oct 2019
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Cilicia, Tarsus
Stater circa 370, AR 10.68 g. TEPΣIKON Head of Hera l., wearing stephane decorated with palmette and two circles, earrings and necklace. Rev. Heracles kneeling l., fighting Nemean lion; below, club. Robinson, NC 1948, pl. V, 11 (these dies). SNG France 235. SNG Levante 63 (this reverse die).
Very rare. An interesting reverse type and a lovely iridescent tone, about extremely fine
Ex Giessener Münzhandlung 52, 1990, 357 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 600 sales.
While most inscribed issues struck in Tarsus in the fourth century BC tend to carry Aramaic legends naming the incumbent Persian satrap of Cilicia, this stater features a Greek legend that identifies it as a "Tarsic [coin]". This legend marks it as an essentially civic issue although it was almost certainly produced with the acquiescence of Datames, the satrap ruling at the time the coin was struck. The reverse type depicting Herakles strangling the Nemean lion is far more appropriate to the Cilician city of Mallos than to Tarsus and indeed very similar types were used there in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. When this is combined with the prevalence of Greek legends on the coins of Mallos, one wonders whether this coin might not have been struck at Mallos on behalf of Tarsus although it is difficult to think of a reason why this might of happened. It is equally unclear why the obverse type depicting the head of Hera seems to be closely modeled on depictions of Hera found on issues of Amisos (as the Athenian refoundation of Peiraieus) struck in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC.
Stater circa 370, AR 10.68 g. TEPΣIKON Head of Hera l., wearing stephane decorated with palmette and two circles, earrings and necklace. Rev. Heracles kneeling l., fighting Nemean lion; below, club. Robinson, NC 1948, pl. V, 11 (these dies). SNG France 235. SNG Levante 63 (this reverse die).
Very rare. An interesting reverse type and a lovely iridescent tone, about extremely fine
Ex Giessener Münzhandlung 52, 1990, 357 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 600 sales.
While most inscribed issues struck in Tarsus in the fourth century BC tend to carry Aramaic legends naming the incumbent Persian satrap of Cilicia, this stater features a Greek legend that identifies it as a "Tarsic [coin]". This legend marks it as an essentially civic issue although it was almost certainly produced with the acquiescence of Datames, the satrap ruling at the time the coin was struck. The reverse type depicting Herakles strangling the Nemean lion is far more appropriate to the Cilician city of Mallos than to Tarsus and indeed very similar types were used there in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. When this is combined with the prevalence of Greek legends on the coins of Mallos, one wonders whether this coin might not have been struck at Mallos on behalf of Tarsus although it is difficult to think of a reason why this might of happened. It is equally unclear why the obverse type depicting the head of Hera seems to be closely modeled on depictions of Hera found on issues of Amisos (as the Athenian refoundation of Peiraieus) struck in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC.