Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIX 26-27 Mar 2020
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Cyprus, Lapethos AR Stater. Uncertain king, circa 425 BC. Head of Athena left, wearing crested Corinthian helmet decorated with a floral motif on the bowl / Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress, within incuse square. Tziambazis -; Traité -; BMC -; ACGC 1094 = Boston MFA Supp. 253 = Celenderis 8a (same dies); CNG 72, lot 852 (same rev. die); Münzen und Medaillen AG XIX (5 June 1959), lot 514 (same rev. die). 11.19g, 22mm, 11h.
Near Mint State; arguably the finest known example of the type.
From the collection of an antiquarian, Bavaria c. 1960s-1990s.
Lapethos, one of the ancient kingdoms of Cyprus, was, according to tradition, founded by Praxandros from Lakonia in the Peloponnese. However, the city figures little in recorded history; its earliest kings that we know of were Demonikos and Sidqmelek, who reigned in that order, though not necessarily in direct succession. A change from Greek rulers to Phoenician ones occurred at Salamis around this time, which consequently has seen Sidqmelek characterised as a Phoenician interloper, and Kagan (1994) notes that the "changes in type... first to that used by Sidqmelek and then to the coins of Andr- and Demonicus II is quite extraordinary from a numismatic perspective and indicative of some sort of change". However, Christopher Tuplin (Achaemenid Studies, 1996, pp. 46) observes that all of the coins of Lapethos are inscribed in Phoenician down to the time of Alexander, and fathers with Greek names gave their sons Phoenician names, and vice versa, at both at Marion and Salamis. Lapethos had moreover evidently used the type of Athena since the 480s BC, and the type of 'Herakles' here may be inferred to probably refer to the Phoencian equivalent, Melqart.
Near Mint State; arguably the finest known example of the type.
From the collection of an antiquarian, Bavaria c. 1960s-1990s.
Lapethos, one of the ancient kingdoms of Cyprus, was, according to tradition, founded by Praxandros from Lakonia in the Peloponnese. However, the city figures little in recorded history; its earliest kings that we know of were Demonikos and Sidqmelek, who reigned in that order, though not necessarily in direct succession. A change from Greek rulers to Phoenician ones occurred at Salamis around this time, which consequently has seen Sidqmelek characterised as a Phoenician interloper, and Kagan (1994) notes that the "changes in type... first to that used by Sidqmelek and then to the coins of Andr- and Demonicus II is quite extraordinary from a numismatic perspective and indicative of some sort of change". However, Christopher Tuplin (Achaemenid Studies, 1996, pp. 46) observes that all of the coins of Lapethos are inscribed in Phoenician down to the time of Alexander, and fathers with Greek names gave their sons Phoenician names, and vice versa, at both at Marion and Salamis. Lapethos had moreover evidently used the type of Athena since the 480s BC, and the type of 'Herakles' here may be inferred to probably refer to the Phoencian equivalent, Melqart.