Gemini, LLC
Auction X 13 January 2013
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Mysia. Cyzicus. c. 380-360 BC. EL Hemihecton (1/12 stater), 1.32g. Obv: Draped head right of beardless youth with long, curly hair, wearing Persian headdress. Below, tunny fish. Rx: Quadripartite incuse square. Fritze 142, pl. IV, 28-29 (staters and hectae), but see Hurter & Liewald, SNR 83 (2004), p. 34,142 (citing another 1/12 stater: Vinchon 24 November 1994, lot 64). EF.
Usually interpreted as representing Attis, the Phrygian god of vegetation, this image might instead depict Paris, the young prince of Troy, famous for acting as judge in the beauty contest of the goddesses. A homage in the coinage of Cyzicus to the myths of nearby Troy would not be out of place. The type is also reminiscent of a somewhat later hecte of Phocaea (Bodenstedt 84).
Usually interpreted as representing Attis, the Phrygian god of vegetation, this image might instead depict Paris, the young prince of Troy, famous for acting as judge in the beauty contest of the goddesses. A homage in the coinage of Cyzicus to the myths of nearby Troy would not be out of place. The type is also reminiscent of a somewhat later hecte of Phocaea (Bodenstedt 84).