Watch List notes:

CILICIA. Uncertain. Mid 5th century BC. Tetartemorion (Silver, 6 mm, 0.17 g, 1 h). Head of Athena or a beardless local hero to right, with a lozenge-shaped archaic eye, wearing an undecorated Attic helmet with crest. Rev. Uncertain legend Raven standing to left within a pelleted rectangular border; the whole within a shallow incuse square. Unpublished, but see Peus 427, 2020, 321 for a coin of the same types, but with an uncertain legend and described as an unpublished dynastic issue from Lycia; see also Nomos 20, 2020, 250 for a very similar coin but lacking a legend and with the raven standing to right. An intriguing coin with fascinating bird on the reverse. Very fine.


Helmeted, beardless heads that appear on Greek coinage tend to be identified as Athena, and it would be natural to assume just that for this coin. However, the bird on the reverse of this coin is not Athena's owl, but a rather cross-looking raven (or a hawk? – in any case it is not an eagle), so the identification of the head on the obverse as being the goddess's is somewhat problematical. It certainly could be a local hero of some sort. It is often the case that very small coins provide very big problems.