Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXII 7-8 Oct 2021
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Mysia, Kyzikos EL Stater. Circa 550-500 BC. Kerberos standing to left on tunny fish / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze I, 10; Boston MFA 1538; Roma XII, lot 289. 15.90g, 18mm.
Very Fine. Extremely Rare.
From a private European collection;
Ex Numismatik Naumann, Auction 62, 4 February 2018, lot 183.
Early Greek descriptions of Cerberus (Kerberos) vary greatly. The earliest literary appearance of Cerberus in Hesiod's Theogeny (c. 8th – 7th centuries BC) portrays the monster with fifty heads, while Pindar (c.522-443 BC) gives him one hundred heads. Later writers however almost all describe Cerberus as having three heads. For practical reasons, representations of Cerberus in Greek art often depict him with two visible heads (the third being assumed to be hidden), but occasionally three heads, and rarely only one, are also seen. The earliest securely datable artefact depicting a three-headed Cerberus is a mid-sixth century BC Laconian cup by the Hunt painter, which clearly shows the beast with three canine heads, covered by a coat of snakes, and a tail ending in a snake's head, held on a chain leash by Herakles. A slightly later amphora fount at Vulci c.525-510 (Louvre F204) shows a two-headed Cerberus in similar pose to that on our present coin, also with a snake-headed tail.
Very Fine. Extremely Rare.
From a private European collection;
Ex Numismatik Naumann, Auction 62, 4 February 2018, lot 183.
Early Greek descriptions of Cerberus (Kerberos) vary greatly. The earliest literary appearance of Cerberus in Hesiod's Theogeny (c. 8th – 7th centuries BC) portrays the monster with fifty heads, while Pindar (c.522-443 BC) gives him one hundred heads. Later writers however almost all describe Cerberus as having three heads. For practical reasons, representations of Cerberus in Greek art often depict him with two visible heads (the third being assumed to be hidden), but occasionally three heads, and rarely only one, are also seen. The earliest securely datable artefact depicting a three-headed Cerberus is a mid-sixth century BC Laconian cup by the Hunt painter, which clearly shows the beast with three canine heads, covered by a coat of snakes, and a tail ending in a snake's head, held on a chain leash by Herakles. A slightly later amphora fount at Vulci c.525-510 (Louvre F204) shows a two-headed Cerberus in similar pose to that on our present coin, also with a snake-headed tail.