The New York Sale
Auction 30 9 January 2013
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ANCIENT COINS. GREEK. Sicily, Selinos (c.455-409 B.C.), Silver Tetradrachm, 17.00g, 1h. Artemis driving a quadriga right, Apollo standing beside her drawing his bow, a barley ear in exergue. Rev. ΣEΛ-INONTI-ON, river-god Selinos standing left, sacrificing from phiale over a lighted altar and holding a palm-frond, a rooster left on an altar before, a bull left on a base and a selinon leaf behind (Schwabacher 30 (these dies); SNG ANS 699 (these dies); SNG Lloyd 1235 (this obverse die). Attractively toned with pale champagne highlights, extremely fine.
Ex Triton sale III, New York, 30 November – 1 December, 1999, lot 250
Selinos , the most westerly of Sicily's Greek cities, was set near the mouth of the River Selinos and a few miles from the mouth of the Hypsas, not far from where the modern city of Marinela is now. After the expulsion of the tyrants in the mid-5th Century B.C., Selinos rose to considerable power and wealth. But at some point during this glorious period, the city was stricken with a pestilence, most likely some form of malaria stirred by the stagnant waters of the surrounding marshlands. The Selinuntines besought aid from the famed philosopher Empedokles of Akragas, who was held in great esteem for his profound knowledge of nature and the treatment of disease and epidemics.
Empedokles put an end to the plague by shrewdly joining the channels of two neighboring streams. To show their gratitude, the citizens conferred divine honors upon him while recording the episode for all time numismatically. On this coin, Apollo, in his role as a healing god, prepares to slay the city's pestilence with his arrow. Artemis stands with him, literally driving him, as a symbol of the plight of the Selinuntine women during the plague and their deliverance. On the reverse, the river-god Selinos makes a formal libation to the healing god for cleansing the waters.
Estimate: $5,000
Ex Triton sale III, New York, 30 November – 1 December, 1999, lot 250
Selinos , the most westerly of Sicily's Greek cities, was set near the mouth of the River Selinos and a few miles from the mouth of the Hypsas, not far from where the modern city of Marinela is now. After the expulsion of the tyrants in the mid-5th Century B.C., Selinos rose to considerable power and wealth. But at some point during this glorious period, the city was stricken with a pestilence, most likely some form of malaria stirred by the stagnant waters of the surrounding marshlands. The Selinuntines besought aid from the famed philosopher Empedokles of Akragas, who was held in great esteem for his profound knowledge of nature and the treatment of disease and epidemics.
Empedokles put an end to the plague by shrewdly joining the channels of two neighboring streams. To show their gratitude, the citizens conferred divine honors upon him while recording the episode for all time numismatically. On this coin, Apollo, in his role as a healing god, prepares to slay the city's pestilence with his arrow. Artemis stands with him, literally driving him, as a symbol of the plight of the Selinuntine women during the plague and their deliverance. On the reverse, the river-god Selinos makes a formal libation to the healing god for cleansing the waters.
Estimate: $5,000