Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXI 24-25 Mar 2021
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Mysia, Kyzikos EL Stater. Circa 500-450 BC. Facing gorgoneion with mouth open and tongue protruding, six serpents on top of head, another below each ear; below, tunny fish to left / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze 129, pl. IV, 15; Boston MFA 1445 = Warren 1492; cf. SNG von Aulock 7295 (hemihekte); SNG BnF -; Gillet -; Gulbenkian -; Jameson 2191; Rosen -; Traité II 2606; Weber 4972. 16.10g, 20mm.
Extremely Fine; struck on a broad planchet, and among the finest known specimens. Extremely Rare.
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XVIII, 29 September 2019, lot 626.
While the origin or inspiration for many of the types used at Kyzikos is obscure or uncertain, the apotropaic design used on this type is very similar in style to those found on the silver coinage of Apollonia Pontika on the Black Sea coast of Thrace (Topalov 37-38ff), and certain issues from both Mytilene (Bodenstedt 19) and Phokaia (Triton XIX, 217). All were important trading hubs within a relatively short distance of Kyzikos; the latter's strategic location on the main trade route would inevitably have meant close economic ties. Given that Apollonia Pontika utilised the gorgoneion as their principal reverse type, it seems likely that this would have been the primary source of inspiration for the present coin.
Regardless of the stylistic origin of this stater, the use of the gorgoneion as an apotropaic (for averting evil influences or bad luck) symbol is well attested in Greek art from the Orientalising period in the eighth and seventh centuries BC, and it remained a popular protective convention until the advent of widespread Christianity, though even then its use persisted in the Byzantine empire. Widely employed on the coinage of Greek city states (no fewer than 37, as per A. Potts, 'The World's Eye', 1982), the gorgoneion ranked in numismatic ubiquity only below several principal Olympian gods and Herakles. Its origin cannot be directly traced; though there is a similar monstrous image from the Knossos palace, datable to the fifteenth century BC, and and it has been argued (Marija Gimbutas, 'The Living Goddesses', 2001) that "the Gorgon extends back to at least 6000 BC, as a ceramic mask from the Sesklo culture illustrates", this identification of a monstrous image as the traditional gorgoneion of myth cannot be supported. Gimbutas also identified the prototype of the gorgoneion in Neolithic art motifs, especially in anthropomorphic vases and terracotta masks inlaid with gold, however this approach fails to take into account a very widespread use of monstrous or otherwise frightening visages at a primitive human level, some of which inevitably accrue more complex mythologies around them. In the near east, the myth of the Mesopotamian monster Humbaba 'the Terrible' and its death at the hands of the hero Gilgamesh has some striking parallels with that of Medusa and Perseus, and both monsters are certainly depicted in very similar manners. However, while any attempt to imply a direct connection between the two is ultimately futile, we may certainly consider that the autonomous and indigenous European gorgoneion could have assimilated some aspects of its near-eastern parallel. Possibly our only clue to the evolution of the Greek myth lies in the work of Homer, who refers to the Gorgon on four occasions, each time alluding to only one gorgon, and just the head alone, as if it had no body. The implication is that the myth of the gorgon Medusa was not yet fully developed, and indeed it appears to have been left to Hesiod (Theogeny, c.700 BC) to imagine the Gorgons as sea daemons and increase their number to three.
Extremely Fine; struck on a broad planchet, and among the finest known specimens. Extremely Rare.
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XVIII, 29 September 2019, lot 626.
While the origin or inspiration for many of the types used at Kyzikos is obscure or uncertain, the apotropaic design used on this type is very similar in style to those found on the silver coinage of Apollonia Pontika on the Black Sea coast of Thrace (Topalov 37-38ff), and certain issues from both Mytilene (Bodenstedt 19) and Phokaia (Triton XIX, 217). All were important trading hubs within a relatively short distance of Kyzikos; the latter's strategic location on the main trade route would inevitably have meant close economic ties. Given that Apollonia Pontika utilised the gorgoneion as their principal reverse type, it seems likely that this would have been the primary source of inspiration for the present coin.
Regardless of the stylistic origin of this stater, the use of the gorgoneion as an apotropaic (for averting evil influences or bad luck) symbol is well attested in Greek art from the Orientalising period in the eighth and seventh centuries BC, and it remained a popular protective convention until the advent of widespread Christianity, though even then its use persisted in the Byzantine empire. Widely employed on the coinage of Greek city states (no fewer than 37, as per A. Potts, 'The World's Eye', 1982), the gorgoneion ranked in numismatic ubiquity only below several principal Olympian gods and Herakles. Its origin cannot be directly traced; though there is a similar monstrous image from the Knossos palace, datable to the fifteenth century BC, and and it has been argued (Marija Gimbutas, 'The Living Goddesses', 2001) that "the Gorgon extends back to at least 6000 BC, as a ceramic mask from the Sesklo culture illustrates", this identification of a monstrous image as the traditional gorgoneion of myth cannot be supported. Gimbutas also identified the prototype of the gorgoneion in Neolithic art motifs, especially in anthropomorphic vases and terracotta masks inlaid with gold, however this approach fails to take into account a very widespread use of monstrous or otherwise frightening visages at a primitive human level, some of which inevitably accrue more complex mythologies around them. In the near east, the myth of the Mesopotamian monster Humbaba 'the Terrible' and its death at the hands of the hero Gilgamesh has some striking parallels with that of Medusa and Perseus, and both monsters are certainly depicted in very similar manners. However, while any attempt to imply a direct connection between the two is ultimately futile, we may certainly consider that the autonomous and indigenous European gorgoneion could have assimilated some aspects of its near-eastern parallel. Possibly our only clue to the evolution of the Greek myth lies in the work of Homer, who refers to the Gorgon on four occasions, each time alluding to only one gorgon, and just the head alone, as if it had no body. The implication is that the myth of the gorgon Medusa was not yet fully developed, and indeed it appears to have been left to Hesiod (Theogeny, c.700 BC) to imagine the Gorgons as sea daemons and increase their number to three.