Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 126 17 Nov 2021
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Kierion
Stater circa 350, AR 11.12 g. Laureate head of Zeus r. Rev. [ΚΙΕΡΙΕΙΩΝ] Youthful Asclepius seated l. on rock, holding long sceptre in his l. hand and resting his r. on his knee; in l. field, tree entwined by a serpent. Traité IV, 508 and pl. CCLXXXIX, 21 (these dies). SNG Lewis 574 (these dies). BCD Thessaly I, 1071 (this coin).
Exceedingly rare, only one of four specimens known. Dark tone, surface somewhat porous,
scratches on reverse and a flan crack at one o'clock on reverse. otherwise very fine
Ex Hess-Leu 45, 1970, 161 and Nomos 4, 2011, BCD, 1071 sales.
Greek myth-history held that the site of Kierion was originally settled by Aeolian Greeks who established a city there named Arne after a nearby river-nymph. The Arneans were subsequently driven out of their city by the arrival of the Thessalians, a Dorian Greek people associated with the sons of Heracles. The dispossessed Aeolians fled southwards and settled in the region Boeotia where they became the Boeotians of historical times. The Thessalians, however, took over Arne for themselves, but gave it a new name, Kierion. This extremely rare coin is one of only four staters known to have survived from antiquity down to modern times. On the obverse it features Zeus, the father of Heracles and therefore ultimate divine ancestor of the Dorian Thessalians. The reverse, however, depicts the healing-god Asclepius with his sacred serpent entwining a tree before him. While this and similar representations of the snake informed later Christian images of the serpent tempting Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, the Asclepian snake was no devil. Instead, at healing sanctuaries called Asclepieia, the sick and injured were encouraged to sleep in rooms where sacred snakes slithered about so that they could inspire dreams from the god that would reveal the proper cure.The name of the Thessalian city was used as the title for a 1968 Greek film noir directed by Dimos Theos that was controversial at the time for its criticism of the ruling Greek military junta. The film Kierion was banned from being shown in Greece until 1974, after the junta had fallen from power.
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Stater circa 350, AR 11.12 g. Laureate head of Zeus r. Rev. [ΚΙΕΡΙΕΙΩΝ] Youthful Asclepius seated l. on rock, holding long sceptre in his l. hand and resting his r. on his knee; in l. field, tree entwined by a serpent. Traité IV, 508 and pl. CCLXXXIX, 21 (these dies). SNG Lewis 574 (these dies). BCD Thessaly I, 1071 (this coin).
Exceedingly rare, only one of four specimens known. Dark tone, surface somewhat porous,
scratches on reverse and a flan crack at one o'clock on reverse. otherwise very fine
Ex Hess-Leu 45, 1970, 161 and Nomos 4, 2011, BCD, 1071 sales.
Greek myth-history held that the site of Kierion was originally settled by Aeolian Greeks who established a city there named Arne after a nearby river-nymph. The Arneans were subsequently driven out of their city by the arrival of the Thessalians, a Dorian Greek people associated with the sons of Heracles. The dispossessed Aeolians fled southwards and settled in the region Boeotia where they became the Boeotians of historical times. The Thessalians, however, took over Arne for themselves, but gave it a new name, Kierion. This extremely rare coin is one of only four staters known to have survived from antiquity down to modern times. On the obverse it features Zeus, the father of Heracles and therefore ultimate divine ancestor of the Dorian Thessalians. The reverse, however, depicts the healing-god Asclepius with his sacred serpent entwining a tree before him. While this and similar representations of the snake informed later Christian images of the serpent tempting Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, the Asclepian snake was no devil. Instead, at healing sanctuaries called Asclepieia, the sick and injured were encouraged to sleep in rooms where sacred snakes slithered about so that they could inspire dreams from the god that would reveal the proper cure.The name of the Thessalian city was used as the title for a 1968 Greek film noir directed by Dimos Theos that was controversial at the time for its criticism of the ruling Greek military junta. The film Kierion was banned from being shown in Greece until 1974, after the junta had fallen from power.
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