Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 124 23 Jun 2021
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Sarmatia, Olbia. Dynast Eminakos, circa 450 – 425.
Stater circa 450-425, AR 11.50 g. [EMINAK]O Herakles, naked and wearing lion's skin headdress, kneeling r. and stringing bow. Rev. Four-spoked studded wheel of 'solar-disk' design; around, four dolphins swimming counter-clockwise. All within incuse square. G.F. Hill, Greek Coins Acquired by The British Museum, NC 1926, p. 117, pl. V, 2. Jameson 2536 (this obverse die). Rosen 147. SNG Stancomb 342. SNG BM Black Sea 358.
Very rare. An interesting and fascinating issue, minor areas of
porosity and oxidation, otherwise good very fine
Ex Sternberg XXIV, 1990, 29 and New York XXVII, 2012, 217 sales.
This rare stater is signed in Greek by a mysterious individual named Eminakos who is only known from numismatic evidence. Some scholars have considered him a civic magistrate in Olbia who had his name inscribed on the coinage to advertise his involvement in its production-perhaps as the provider of the silver or of the tools and dies. Others, however, have interpreted Eminakos as a Scythian king or governor established in Olbia. The dating of Eminakos' coinage has been the subject of some dispute. While the staters bearing his name are most commonly dated to the period c. 450-425 BC, it has been argued recently that if Eminakos was indeed a Scythian ruler with authority over Olbia, his staters cannot have been struck later than 437 BC, when Perikles and the Athenians undertook an expedition into the Black Sea and are presumed to have enrolled Olbia as a member of the Delian League. The case for a date before 437 BC, is actually rather slight considering that Olbia never appears in the Athenian Tribute Lists and there is scholarly disagreement over whether the Black Sea expedition ever really took place. Regardless of the chronology for Eminakos, it seems fairly clear from the obverse type that his staters do indeed have some Scythian context. Here a wonderfully archaic figure of Herakles crouches right to string his bow, probably alluding to the Greek mythological tradition that made him the ancestor of the Scythians. During his tenth labour, carrying off the cattle of Geryon, Herakles was forced to sleep with a half-woman half-serpent being in Scythia in order to gain the return of his stolen horses. When it was revealed that the serpent-woman was pregnant he gave her his belt and bow and advised her to test her sons with them. Whichever one could wear the belt and string the bow was strong enough to rule Scythia whereas the sons that could not should be sent elsewhere. As it turned out, Scythes, her eldest son by Heracles was able to perform this feat and thus became the ruler of Scythia and the eponymous ancestor of the Scythian people. The wheel reverse seems to advertise the mint city responsible for the coinage of Eminakos. Wheels are a prominent reverse type on the large cast bronze coins produced in Olbia in the fifth century BC.
Stater circa 450-425, AR 11.50 g. [EMINAK]O Herakles, naked and wearing lion's skin headdress, kneeling r. and stringing bow. Rev. Four-spoked studded wheel of 'solar-disk' design; around, four dolphins swimming counter-clockwise. All within incuse square. G.F. Hill, Greek Coins Acquired by The British Museum, NC 1926, p. 117, pl. V, 2. Jameson 2536 (this obverse die). Rosen 147. SNG Stancomb 342. SNG BM Black Sea 358.
Very rare. An interesting and fascinating issue, minor areas of
porosity and oxidation, otherwise good very fine
Ex Sternberg XXIV, 1990, 29 and New York XXVII, 2012, 217 sales.
This rare stater is signed in Greek by a mysterious individual named Eminakos who is only known from numismatic evidence. Some scholars have considered him a civic magistrate in Olbia who had his name inscribed on the coinage to advertise his involvement in its production-perhaps as the provider of the silver or of the tools and dies. Others, however, have interpreted Eminakos as a Scythian king or governor established in Olbia. The dating of Eminakos' coinage has been the subject of some dispute. While the staters bearing his name are most commonly dated to the period c. 450-425 BC, it has been argued recently that if Eminakos was indeed a Scythian ruler with authority over Olbia, his staters cannot have been struck later than 437 BC, when Perikles and the Athenians undertook an expedition into the Black Sea and are presumed to have enrolled Olbia as a member of the Delian League. The case for a date before 437 BC, is actually rather slight considering that Olbia never appears in the Athenian Tribute Lists and there is scholarly disagreement over whether the Black Sea expedition ever really took place. Regardless of the chronology for Eminakos, it seems fairly clear from the obverse type that his staters do indeed have some Scythian context. Here a wonderfully archaic figure of Herakles crouches right to string his bow, probably alluding to the Greek mythological tradition that made him the ancestor of the Scythians. During his tenth labour, carrying off the cattle of Geryon, Herakles was forced to sleep with a half-woman half-serpent being in Scythia in order to gain the return of his stolen horses. When it was revealed that the serpent-woman was pregnant he gave her his belt and bow and advised her to test her sons with them. Whichever one could wear the belt and string the bow was strong enough to rule Scythia whereas the sons that could not should be sent elsewhere. As it turned out, Scythes, her eldest son by Heracles was able to perform this feat and thus became the ruler of Scythia and the eponymous ancestor of the Scythian people. The wheel reverse seems to advertise the mint city responsible for the coinage of Eminakos. Wheels are a prominent reverse type on the large cast bronze coins produced in Olbia in the fifth century BC.