Gemini, LLC
Auction X 13 January 2013
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Arcadia. Pheneus. c. 350 BC. Stater, 11.27g. (10h). Obv: Head of a local nymph (Maia?) right with wheat wreath. Rx: ΦΕ-ΝΕ-ΩΝ Hermes advancing left, holding caduceus in right hand, looking back at infant Arkas held on left arm. To right, ΑΡΚΑΣ. S. Schultz, SNR 71 (1992), p. 53, no. 6.12, pl. 9 (this coin). SNG Berry 867, SNG Fitzwilliam 3897 (same dies). Head of Hermes flatly struck and partially off flan on reverse, a few old light scratches and a scrape on obverse, but still an attractive Toned EF.
Ex Superior, 30 May 1995, lot 7463, Lewis Egnew Collection. Ex NFA 28, 23 April 1992, lot 676. Ex NFA Journal 38 (1990), 39. Ex Leu-NFA 16 October 1984 (Garrett II), lot 229. Ex Egger 40 (1912), Prowe Collection, lot 1162. Ex Egger, 10 December 1906, lot 399.
The rare coins of Pheneus were minted in the short period of freedom and prosperity for the city after the wars between the Boeotians (led by the general Epaminondas) and the Spartans, and before the conquest of mainland Greece by Philip II and Alexander the Great. While the obverse type harks back to the popular Arethusa head of the Syracusan decadrachms, the reverse is original: the local hero Arkas, ancestor of the Arkadians, being rescued as a young child by the god Hermes. Being the son of Zeus and the nymph Kallisto, Arkas was in danger of falling victim, as his mother did, to the jealous rage of Zeus' wife Hera. Therefore Hermes brought the child to his own mother, the nymph Maia, who lived in the mountains near Pheneos, where Arkas then grew up. Even today, the Pheneos valley remains a place to escape to and relax, especially for hasseled contemporary Athenians.
Ex Superior, 30 May 1995, lot 7463, Lewis Egnew Collection. Ex NFA 28, 23 April 1992, lot 676. Ex NFA Journal 38 (1990), 39. Ex Leu-NFA 16 October 1984 (Garrett II), lot 229. Ex Egger 40 (1912), Prowe Collection, lot 1162. Ex Egger, 10 December 1906, lot 399.
The rare coins of Pheneus were minted in the short period of freedom and prosperity for the city after the wars between the Boeotians (led by the general Epaminondas) and the Spartans, and before the conquest of mainland Greece by Philip II and Alexander the Great. While the obverse type harks back to the popular Arethusa head of the Syracusan decadrachms, the reverse is original: the local hero Arkas, ancestor of the Arkadians, being rescued as a young child by the god Hermes. Being the son of Zeus and the nymph Kallisto, Arkas was in danger of falling victim, as his mother did, to the jealous rage of Zeus' wife Hera. Therefore Hermes brought the child to his own mother, the nymph Maia, who lived in the mountains near Pheneos, where Arkas then grew up. Even today, the Pheneos valley remains a place to escape to and relax, especially for hasseled contemporary Athenians.