Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Maximian AV Aureus. Rome, AD 293-294. MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, laureate head right / HERCVLI DEBELLAT, Hercules standing left, fighting Hydra with club in right hand; PR in exergue. RIC -, for the type cf. Treveri, 9; C. 255 var. (PROM in exergue); Depeyrot 6/13; Calicó 4659a (this coin); Biaggi -; Beaurains -. 5.29g, 18mm, 12h.
Near Mint State. Extremely Rare; one of three known examples, of which only two are in private hands.
This coin published in X. Calicó, Los Aureos Romanos (2002);
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Gemini LLC, Auction III, 9 January 2007, lot 450;
Ex Claude Vaudecrane (1915-2002) Collection, Leu Numismatik AG, Auction 93 (Collection of a Perfectionist), 10 May 2005, lot 121;
Ex Bank Leu AG, Auction 65, 21-22 May 1996, lot 480.
The reverse of this coin depicts the by now familiar allegorical reference to the challenges that beset the empire in this tumultuous period. Displaying a rendition of Hercules' second of the Twelve Labours set by Eurystheus, the agent of Juno. Hercules was tasked with slaying the ancient serpent-like monster that resided in the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, which guarded an underwater entrance to the underworld.
Upon cutting off each of the Hydra's heads however, Hercules found that two more would grow back in its place, an expression of the hopelessness of such a struggle for any but the hero. Realizing that he could not defeat the Hydra in this way, Hercules called on his nephew Iolaus for help. Iolaus then came upon the idea (possibly inspired by Minerva) of using a firebrand to cauterize the stumps after each decapitation. When Juno saw that Hercules was gaining the upper hand she sent a large crab to distract the hero, but Hercules crushed it underfoot. He cut off the last and strongest of the Hydra's heads with a golden sword given to him by Minerva, and so completed his task. Juno, upset that Hercules had slain the beast she raised to kill him, placed it in the vault of the heavens as the constellation Hydra, and she turned the crab into the constellation Cancer.
The encounter with the Lernean Hydra is not only well attested in epic, but is also the subject of some of the earliest securely identifiable Herakles scenes in Greek art. On two Boiotian fibulae of c. 750-700 BC (BM 3025, Philadelphia 75-35-1), the hydra is attacked by Herakles, at whose feet is the crab sent by Hera. This particular form of the scene would later be replicated on the classical period coinage of Phaistos on Crete (cf. Svoronos 60, pl. XXIV, 20), even including the crab. The silver staters produced there present us with the most detailed numismatic depictions of Hercules' struggle with the Hydra, and it has been extensively argued that the later designs of Phaistos copy a now lost masterpiece of sculpture or painting, perhaps even a statue group by the great sculptor Lysippos (see Lehmann, 'Statues on Coins', New York 1946; see also Lacroix, 'Les Reproductions de Statues sur les Monnaies Grecques', Liege 1949; see also Lattimore, 'Lysippian Sculpture on Greek Coins', California Studies in Classical Antiquity Vol. 5 1972). The present type most likely draws its inspiration from a vase or wall painting once significant to Phaistos that later attracted wider attention, given the considerable similarity in format and posture of the combatants. Though the particular source of inspiration for this type is not known, clear parallels can be seen in surviving Greek art of the late Archaic and early Classical periods, notably on an Attic black figure Lekythos now in the Louvre (CA598) which depicts Hercules and the Hydra in a similar combat pose.
Near Mint State. Extremely Rare; one of three known examples, of which only two are in private hands.
This coin published in X. Calicó, Los Aureos Romanos (2002);
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Gemini LLC, Auction III, 9 January 2007, lot 450;
Ex Claude Vaudecrane (1915-2002) Collection, Leu Numismatik AG, Auction 93 (Collection of a Perfectionist), 10 May 2005, lot 121;
Ex Bank Leu AG, Auction 65, 21-22 May 1996, lot 480.
The reverse of this coin depicts the by now familiar allegorical reference to the challenges that beset the empire in this tumultuous period. Displaying a rendition of Hercules' second of the Twelve Labours set by Eurystheus, the agent of Juno. Hercules was tasked with slaying the ancient serpent-like monster that resided in the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, which guarded an underwater entrance to the underworld.
Upon cutting off each of the Hydra's heads however, Hercules found that two more would grow back in its place, an expression of the hopelessness of such a struggle for any but the hero. Realizing that he could not defeat the Hydra in this way, Hercules called on his nephew Iolaus for help. Iolaus then came upon the idea (possibly inspired by Minerva) of using a firebrand to cauterize the stumps after each decapitation. When Juno saw that Hercules was gaining the upper hand she sent a large crab to distract the hero, but Hercules crushed it underfoot. He cut off the last and strongest of the Hydra's heads with a golden sword given to him by Minerva, and so completed his task. Juno, upset that Hercules had slain the beast she raised to kill him, placed it in the vault of the heavens as the constellation Hydra, and she turned the crab into the constellation Cancer.
The encounter with the Lernean Hydra is not only well attested in epic, but is also the subject of some of the earliest securely identifiable Herakles scenes in Greek art. On two Boiotian fibulae of c. 750-700 BC (BM 3025, Philadelphia 75-35-1), the hydra is attacked by Herakles, at whose feet is the crab sent by Hera. This particular form of the scene would later be replicated on the classical period coinage of Phaistos on Crete (cf. Svoronos 60, pl. XXIV, 20), even including the crab. The silver staters produced there present us with the most detailed numismatic depictions of Hercules' struggle with the Hydra, and it has been extensively argued that the later designs of Phaistos copy a now lost masterpiece of sculpture or painting, perhaps even a statue group by the great sculptor Lysippos (see Lehmann, 'Statues on Coins', New York 1946; see also Lacroix, 'Les Reproductions de Statues sur les Monnaies Grecques', Liege 1949; see also Lattimore, 'Lysippian Sculpture on Greek Coins', California Studies in Classical Antiquity Vol. 5 1972). The present type most likely draws its inspiration from a vase or wall painting once significant to Phaistos that later attracted wider attention, given the considerable similarity in format and posture of the combatants. Though the particular source of inspiration for this type is not known, clear parallels can be seen in surviving Greek art of the late Archaic and early Classical periods, notably on an Attic black figure Lekythos now in the Louvre (CA598) which depicts Hercules and the Hydra in a similar combat pose.