Maison Palombo
Auction 19 12 Dec 2020
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Auguste (27-14) - Cistophore - Pergame ou Ephèse ? (27-26).
D'une qualité exceptionnelle - Magnifique patine médaillier.
Le plus bel exemplaire connu, du meilleur style.
Exemplaire de la collection du vicomte Louis de Sartiges (1859-1924) vente Naville XVIII du 10 octobre 1938, N° 37, et de la vente UBS 78 des 9-10 septembre 2008, N° 1246.
Cet exemplaire publié dans : D.A. Longuet, Collection du Vicomte de Sartiges. s.l. s.d. [Paris c. 1910], pl. XXII, N° 27.
Seulement 12 exemplaires connus des auteurs du Roman Provincial Coinage.
12.10g - RPC I 2210 - BMC 702 - RIC 492
FDC Exceptionnel - CHOICE MS
The presence of this type on a coin of Augustus is unsurprising, as we know that " in passports, dispatches, and private letters he used as his seal at first a sphinx, later an image of Alexander the Great, and finally his own, carved by the hand of Dioscurides; and this his successors continued to use as their seal. He always attached to all letters the exact hour, not only of the day, but even of the night, to indicate precisely when they were written" (Suetonius, Life of Augustus, 50). On the question of this seal, see C. J. Simpson, " Rome's " Official Imperial Seal"? The Rings of Augustus and His First Century Successors", in Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, vol. 54.2 (2005), pp. 180-188, and P. Gołyźniak, Engraved Gems and Propaganda in the Roman Republic and under Augustus, Oxford 2020. " The late Emperor Augustus was in the habit, at first, of using the figure of a Sphinx for his signet; having found two of them, among the jewels of his mother, that were perfectly alike. During the Civil Wars, his friends used to employ one of these signets, in his absence, for sealing such letters and edicts as the circumstances of the times required to be issued in his name; it being far from an unmeaning pleasantry on the part of those who received these missives, that the Sphinx always brought its enigmas with it. At a later period, with the view of avoiding the sarcasms relative to the Sphinx, Augustus made use of a signet with a figure upon it of Alexander the Great" (Pliny, Natural History, book XXXVII, chapter 4). Indeed, the choice of this creature could surprise, and the Sphinx (in addition to the coinage of Chios which had chosen the beast as its emblem) is only found in this series of aurei, denarii and cistophori, and on Athenian bronzes (ref. RPC 1311 - struck in the mid-to-late 20s BC), supposedly indicating that he was actually in those regions at the time of their issue. Egyptian sphinxes, benevolent creatures whose sculptures often flank the entrances to temples, were male-headed guardians. This coin therefore clearly depicts the female-headed Greek Sphinx, known from the story of the mythical king of Thebes (Boeotia), Oedipus - whose name meant 'swollen foot' - who fulfilled a prophecy of killing his father King Laius and marrying his mother Queen Jocasta (as told in three plays by Sophocles: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone). Travelling from Delphi to Thebes, after having killed Laius - unaware of who he was - Oedipus met with the threatening Sphinx, a monster with the haunches of a lion, the wings of a bird and the head of a woman who would eat those unable to answer her riddle correctly. Sophocles does not give the exact wording of the riddle, which was probably a variation of " What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?".
Obviously, Oedipus succeeded (with the answer " That it is man, who is a quadruped (going on feet and hands) in childhood, two-footed in manhood, and moving with the aid of a staff in old age"), winning the throne and the hand in marriage of the king's widow (see: M. Kallich, " Oepidus and the Sphinx", in Oepidus: Myth and Drama, New York 1968). The sphinx is sometimes said to be the symbol of Apollo, and Augustus's reign was meant to be the regnum Apollinis. The association can be seen in the presence of statues at the entrance of temples of Apollo - the 'Sphinx of Naxos' at Delphi being a superb example - and Apollo was also Augustus' guardian during the naval battle at Actium.
D'une qualité exceptionnelle - Magnifique patine médaillier.
Le plus bel exemplaire connu, du meilleur style.
Exemplaire de la collection du vicomte Louis de Sartiges (1859-1924) vente Naville XVIII du 10 octobre 1938, N° 37, et de la vente UBS 78 des 9-10 septembre 2008, N° 1246.
Cet exemplaire publié dans : D.A. Longuet, Collection du Vicomte de Sartiges. s.l. s.d. [Paris c. 1910], pl. XXII, N° 27.
Seulement 12 exemplaires connus des auteurs du Roman Provincial Coinage.
12.10g - RPC I 2210 - BMC 702 - RIC 492
FDC Exceptionnel - CHOICE MS
The presence of this type on a coin of Augustus is unsurprising, as we know that " in passports, dispatches, and private letters he used as his seal at first a sphinx, later an image of Alexander the Great, and finally his own, carved by the hand of Dioscurides; and this his successors continued to use as their seal. He always attached to all letters the exact hour, not only of the day, but even of the night, to indicate precisely when they were written" (Suetonius, Life of Augustus, 50). On the question of this seal, see C. J. Simpson, " Rome's " Official Imperial Seal"? The Rings of Augustus and His First Century Successors", in Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, vol. 54.2 (2005), pp. 180-188, and P. Gołyźniak, Engraved Gems and Propaganda in the Roman Republic and under Augustus, Oxford 2020. " The late Emperor Augustus was in the habit, at first, of using the figure of a Sphinx for his signet; having found two of them, among the jewels of his mother, that were perfectly alike. During the Civil Wars, his friends used to employ one of these signets, in his absence, for sealing such letters and edicts as the circumstances of the times required to be issued in his name; it being far from an unmeaning pleasantry on the part of those who received these missives, that the Sphinx always brought its enigmas with it. At a later period, with the view of avoiding the sarcasms relative to the Sphinx, Augustus made use of a signet with a figure upon it of Alexander the Great" (Pliny, Natural History, book XXXVII, chapter 4). Indeed, the choice of this creature could surprise, and the Sphinx (in addition to the coinage of Chios which had chosen the beast as its emblem) is only found in this series of aurei, denarii and cistophori, and on Athenian bronzes (ref. RPC 1311 - struck in the mid-to-late 20s BC), supposedly indicating that he was actually in those regions at the time of their issue. Egyptian sphinxes, benevolent creatures whose sculptures often flank the entrances to temples, were male-headed guardians. This coin therefore clearly depicts the female-headed Greek Sphinx, known from the story of the mythical king of Thebes (Boeotia), Oedipus - whose name meant 'swollen foot' - who fulfilled a prophecy of killing his father King Laius and marrying his mother Queen Jocasta (as told in three plays by Sophocles: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone). Travelling from Delphi to Thebes, after having killed Laius - unaware of who he was - Oedipus met with the threatening Sphinx, a monster with the haunches of a lion, the wings of a bird and the head of a woman who would eat those unable to answer her riddle correctly. Sophocles does not give the exact wording of the riddle, which was probably a variation of " What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?".
Obviously, Oedipus succeeded (with the answer " That it is man, who is a quadruped (going on feet and hands) in childhood, two-footed in manhood, and moving with the aid of a staff in old age"), winning the throne and the hand in marriage of the king's widow (see: M. Kallich, " Oepidus and the Sphinx", in Oepidus: Myth and Drama, New York 1968). The sphinx is sometimes said to be the symbol of Apollo, and Augustus's reign was meant to be the regnum Apollinis. The association can be seen in the presence of statues at the entrance of temples of Apollo - the 'Sphinx of Naxos' at Delphi being a superb example - and Apollo was also Augustus' guardian during the naval battle at Actium.