Artemide Aste s.r.l.
Auction LIV 7-8 Nov 2020
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Greek Asia. Cilicia, Mallos. AR Stater, c. 440-385 BC. Bearded male, winged, in kneeling/running stance left, holding solar disk with both hands. / ΜΑΡΛΟ. Swan standing right, eagle upon its back; all within incuse circle. Traitè 1394, pl. CXXXVII, 20. AR. 10.89 g. 23.50 mm. RR. Very rare. Test cuts on obverse. Cleaned surfaces. Good VF.
Mallos (archaically known as Marlotas) issued a rich coinage between the early fifth century and 333 BC, when it came under Macedonian hegemony, featuring Greek deities including Herakles, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes, Dionysos and Demeter, as well as securely identifiable oriental deities such as Baal and Ahuramazda.
The solar deity present on the obverse of this coin is sometimes identified as Kronos (a Semitic god more properly known as 'El', and distinct from the Greek Titan and father of the Olympian gods, but with whom he was syncretised by Greeks). This seems eminently logical, since the spiral attribute, used on later issues - which Robert Graves called a 'spiral of immortality' (The White Goddess, 1948), a symbol of power most likely appropriated from the Red Crown of Lower Egypt - and solar disc attributes do not belong to any Olympian deity, but to one of near-Eastern origin. It has moreover been suggested that Mallos was originally of Phoenician foundation (see IACP, 1009) on the basis of its original ethnik, a suggestion supported by the presence of other Semitic deities portrayed on the city's coinage, as well as the use of Aramaic legends.
Curiously, the attribute of the solar disc is one with few parallels in the archaeological record. In a similar pose, a male solar deity is carrying a sun disc on a 6th century orientalising archaic Greek scarab from Cyprus, and an alabastron from the Isis tomb at Vulci, Etruria (suggested locations for its manufacture are Cyprus and Phoenicia) depicts a female carrying a winged sun disc. Possibly related also are Phoenician terracotta figurines from Punic sites holding a disc in front of them. In all cases a Semitic origin is apparent, further strengthening the likelihood that the deity of this coin should be the Semitic solar god 'El'. (Roma Numismatics XVI, 2018, 321 note).
Mallos (archaically known as Marlotas) issued a rich coinage between the early fifth century and 333 BC, when it came under Macedonian hegemony, featuring Greek deities including Herakles, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes, Dionysos and Demeter, as well as securely identifiable oriental deities such as Baal and Ahuramazda.
The solar deity present on the obverse of this coin is sometimes identified as Kronos (a Semitic god more properly known as 'El', and distinct from the Greek Titan and father of the Olympian gods, but with whom he was syncretised by Greeks). This seems eminently logical, since the spiral attribute, used on later issues - which Robert Graves called a 'spiral of immortality' (The White Goddess, 1948), a symbol of power most likely appropriated from the Red Crown of Lower Egypt - and solar disc attributes do not belong to any Olympian deity, but to one of near-Eastern origin. It has moreover been suggested that Mallos was originally of Phoenician foundation (see IACP, 1009) on the basis of its original ethnik, a suggestion supported by the presence of other Semitic deities portrayed on the city's coinage, as well as the use of Aramaic legends.
Curiously, the attribute of the solar disc is one with few parallels in the archaeological record. In a similar pose, a male solar deity is carrying a sun disc on a 6th century orientalising archaic Greek scarab from Cyprus, and an alabastron from the Isis tomb at Vulci, Etruria (suggested locations for its manufacture are Cyprus and Phoenicia) depicts a female carrying a winged sun disc. Possibly related also are Phoenician terracotta figurines from Punic sites holding a disc in front of them. In all cases a Semitic origin is apparent, further strengthening the likelihood that the deity of this coin should be the Semitic solar god 'El'. (Roma Numismatics XVI, 2018, 321 note).