Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Thrace, Abdera AR Stater. Zenonos, magistrate. Circa 355 BC. Griffin balanced on hind left to left, forelegs outstretched; ABΔH above / Hermes advancing to right, wearing petasos and chlamys, left hand held out with palm open; kantharos in right field. Weber 2378 (same dies); May, Abdera 447 (A301/P354); SNG Copenhagen -; Chryssanthaki-Nagle, p. 127, period VII and pl. 8, 8; Imhoof-Blumer, Monnaies Grecques. 6 (same obv. die); HGC 3.2, 1206. 11.41g, 22mm, 6h.
Good Extremely Fine; beautiful old cabinet tone. Very Rare; only three examples recorded by May.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Dr. Patrick Tan collection, Gemini LLC, Auction VII, 9 January 2011, lot 290;
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XII, 6 January 2009, lot 127;
Ex Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung, Auction 138, 7 March 2005, lot 36.
While the coinage of Abdera is renowned for its wide-ranging reverse types, it is the depiction of a griffin on the obverse of this stater (portrayals of which are seen on the vast majority of its coins) that is more informative as to the cultural make-up of this city state. This griffin is directly comparable with the griffins that appear on the coinage of Teos, Ionia and it is widely accepted that this is as a result of the migration of the people of Teos to Thrace in the middle of the 6th century BC, who were fleeing from the advances of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.
The earliest issues of Abdera date to very shortly after the arrival of Teian refugees in Thrace, which would suggest that it was indeed their influence that inspired the use of the griffin iconography, which then persisted throughout the following issues. This stater which was produced nearly 200 years after the first Abderan coins highlights exactly this continuation; despite the fact that it seems Teos was in fact re-founded in Ionia not long after its people had fled (Strabo, Geographica, xiv.1.30) the people of Abdera patently felt a connection with their symbol.
The reverse type of the coin, depicting Hermes with his typical attributes, seems to be related more to myth than history, possibly being an allusion to the mythological foundation of the city. Some ancient writers state that Abdera took its name from a son of Hermes, Abderus, who features in the story of the eighth labour of Herakles, when he was charged with capturing the four carnivorous mares of King Diomedes. Pseudo-Appollodorus, writing in the 1st or 2nd Century AD, provides a pithy vignette of the episode: "he committed the mares to the guardianship of Abderus, who was a son of Hermes, a native of Opus in Locris, and a minion of Herakles; but the mares killed him by dragging him after them. But Herakles fought against the Bistones, slew Diomedes and compelled the rest to flee. And he founded a city Abdera beside the grave of Abderus who had been done to death" (Pseudo-Appollodorus, Biblioteca, ii.5.8).
Good Extremely Fine; beautiful old cabinet tone. Very Rare; only three examples recorded by May.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Dr. Patrick Tan collection, Gemini LLC, Auction VII, 9 January 2011, lot 290;
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XII, 6 January 2009, lot 127;
Ex Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung, Auction 138, 7 March 2005, lot 36.
While the coinage of Abdera is renowned for its wide-ranging reverse types, it is the depiction of a griffin on the obverse of this stater (portrayals of which are seen on the vast majority of its coins) that is more informative as to the cultural make-up of this city state. This griffin is directly comparable with the griffins that appear on the coinage of Teos, Ionia and it is widely accepted that this is as a result of the migration of the people of Teos to Thrace in the middle of the 6th century BC, who were fleeing from the advances of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.
The earliest issues of Abdera date to very shortly after the arrival of Teian refugees in Thrace, which would suggest that it was indeed their influence that inspired the use of the griffin iconography, which then persisted throughout the following issues. This stater which was produced nearly 200 years after the first Abderan coins highlights exactly this continuation; despite the fact that it seems Teos was in fact re-founded in Ionia not long after its people had fled (Strabo, Geographica, xiv.1.30) the people of Abdera patently felt a connection with their symbol.
The reverse type of the coin, depicting Hermes with his typical attributes, seems to be related more to myth than history, possibly being an allusion to the mythological foundation of the city. Some ancient writers state that Abdera took its name from a son of Hermes, Abderus, who features in the story of the eighth labour of Herakles, when he was charged with capturing the four carnivorous mares of King Diomedes. Pseudo-Appollodorus, writing in the 1st or 2nd Century AD, provides a pithy vignette of the episode: "he committed the mares to the guardianship of Abderus, who was a son of Hermes, a native of Opus in Locris, and a minion of Herakles; but the mares killed him by dragging him after them. But Herakles fought against the Bistones, slew Diomedes and compelled the rest to flee. And he founded a city Abdera beside the grave of Abderus who had been done to death" (Pseudo-Appollodorus, Biblioteca, ii.5.8).