Leu Numismatik AG
Auction 5 27 Oct 2019
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CILICIA. Mallos. Time of Artaxerxes II to Darios III, 404-330 BC. Obol (Silver, 10 mm, 0.70 g, 2 h). Herakles, nude, kneeling right on club, strangling the Nemean lion. Rev. The Persian Great King in kneeling-running stance right, holding transverse spear pointing downard in his right hand and bow in his left. Göktürk -. Klein -. SNG Levante -. SNG Paris -. SNG von Aulock -. Apparently unpublished. An interesting and beautifully toned coin. Slightly granular, otherwise, good very fine.
This is a particularly interesting coin, as it combines the rendering of the Greek hero Herakles kneeling to the right on his club and strangling the Nemean lion with the Royal imagery of the Achaemenid Empire. Unfortunately, most of the small Cilician silver coins of the 4th century do not bear any ethnics, which seriously hampers their attribution to specific mints. In the case of this charming obol, however, there is a valid argument to be made in favor of Mallos, where both the rendering of Herakles kneeling to the right on his club and fighting the Nemean lion as well as that of the Persian Great King holding a transverse spear pointing downward in his right hand and a bow in his left are known from staters bearing the ethnic of the polis (SNG Paris 402 and 398).
This is a particularly interesting coin, as it combines the rendering of the Greek hero Herakles kneeling to the right on his club and strangling the Nemean lion with the Royal imagery of the Achaemenid Empire. Unfortunately, most of the small Cilician silver coins of the 4th century do not bear any ethnics, which seriously hampers their attribution to specific mints. In the case of this charming obol, however, there is a valid argument to be made in favor of Mallos, where both the rendering of Herakles kneeling to the right on his club and fighting the Nemean lion as well as that of the Persian Great King holding a transverse spear pointing downward in his right hand and a bow in his left are known from staters bearing the ethnic of the polis (SNG Paris 402 and 398).