Leu Numismatik AG
Auction 6 23 Oct 2020
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BRUTTIUM. Lokroi Epizephyrioi. Circa 350-330 BC. Stater (Silver, 20 mm, 7.18 g, 3 h), perhaps 346. 𐤆EYΣ Laureate and bearded head of Zeus to right. Rev. ΛOKPΩN Eirene, nude to waist, seated left on cippus decorated with a boukranion, holding kerykeion in her right hand and leaning left on cippus; below, EIPHNA. Basel 208 (this coin). De Luynes (same dies). Burlington Exhibition 1903, pl. 101, 80 (this coin). HN Italy 2310. Jameson 442 (this coin). Extremely rare and of great interest, a very well centered example with a splendid pedigree. A few scratches and with light tooling on Zeus' head, otherwise, very fine.
From the Kleinkunst Collection and from the collections of A. D. Moretti, Numismatica Ars Classica 13, 8 October 1998, 208 and W. Niggeler, Bank Leu and Münzen & Medaillen, Part I, 3-4 December 1965, 80, and from the collections of Sir A. Evans (1851-1941) and R. Jameson (1861-1942).
The early numismatic history of Lokroi Epizephyrioi is somewhat shrouded in mystery: why did the city, despite its importance and fiercely defended independence, not issue its own currency in the 6th and 5th centuries? In any case, when Lokroi finally caught up to the other poleis of southern Italy in the 4th century, its silver staters and fractions incorporated a multitude of influences from Sicily and southern Italy, and the city was also the only Greek state in Magna Graecia other than Syracuse to strike a substantial series of Corinthian Pegasoi. The present coin is part of the earliest and perhaps most interesting issue of Lokroi Epizephyrioi: it shows, on the obverse, a laureate and bearded local head of Zeus of great dignity, while the reverse features a seated figure of Eirene, the Greek goddess of peace. It has been suggested that her appearance may refer to the liberation of Lokroi from the tyrant Dionysios II of Syracuse in 346 BC, whose expulsion and the subsequent introduction of a democracy may have prompted the city to start issuing its own civic coinage, but her worship could also go back to a more ancient local cult. In any case, it is worth noting that Eirene does not reappear on the later coinage of Lokroi, nor does she appear on any other coin from southern Italy, and the connection to a specific historical event such as the liberation of the city from a tyrant thus carries considerable weight.
From the Kleinkunst Collection and from the collections of A. D. Moretti, Numismatica Ars Classica 13, 8 October 1998, 208 and W. Niggeler, Bank Leu and Münzen & Medaillen, Part I, 3-4 December 1965, 80, and from the collections of Sir A. Evans (1851-1941) and R. Jameson (1861-1942).
The early numismatic history of Lokroi Epizephyrioi is somewhat shrouded in mystery: why did the city, despite its importance and fiercely defended independence, not issue its own currency in the 6th and 5th centuries? In any case, when Lokroi finally caught up to the other poleis of southern Italy in the 4th century, its silver staters and fractions incorporated a multitude of influences from Sicily and southern Italy, and the city was also the only Greek state in Magna Graecia other than Syracuse to strike a substantial series of Corinthian Pegasoi. The present coin is part of the earliest and perhaps most interesting issue of Lokroi Epizephyrioi: it shows, on the obverse, a laureate and bearded local head of Zeus of great dignity, while the reverse features a seated figure of Eirene, the Greek goddess of peace. It has been suggested that her appearance may refer to the liberation of Lokroi from the tyrant Dionysios II of Syracuse in 346 BC, whose expulsion and the subsequent introduction of a democracy may have prompted the city to start issuing its own civic coinage, but her worship could also go back to a more ancient local cult. In any case, it is worth noting that Eirene does not reappear on the later coinage of Lokroi, nor does she appear on any other coin from southern Italy, and the connection to a specific historical event such as the liberation of the city from a tyrant thus carries considerable weight.