Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Triton XXV 11-12 Jan 2022
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LESBOS, Mytilene. Mid 1st century BC. AR Tetradrachm (32.5mm, 13.81 g, 1h). Bearded head of Zeus-Ammon right, wearing laurel wreath / Facing xoanon of bearded Dionysos facing, wearing polos; MYTIΛH-NAΩN flanking, EΠIA-NAΣ across lower field; all within wreath of ivy, monograms flanking ties. Unpublished, but cf. Naumann 81, lot 165 = Leu Numismatik 4, lot 259 for similar. Deeply toned, with some find patina remaining, roughness, die break on reverse. VF. Extremely rare.
The reverse of this extremely rare type of tetradrachm from Mytilene displays a xoanon or wooden sculpture of Dionysos. Dionysos was extremely important on Lesbos where a number of mysteries associated with him took place. The images of Athena and Dionysus first appear on the earliest electrum issues of Mytilene. The terminus or xoanon of Dionysus on the prow has also long been associated with the coinage of Mytilene, appearing on its bronze issues. According to Pausanias (10.19.3), an unusual olive-wood "head of unusual features" was caught up in the nets of some Methymnian fishermen off the coast of Lesbos. Although they threw the head back into the sea, they nevertheless picked it up in their nets again and again. Finally, the Methymnians travelled to Delphi to ask the Pythia for assistance on what they should do. She responded, "worship Dionysos Phallen." Subsequently, a cult was established on Lesbos, including a festival in which the object was processed through the streets of Mytilene. Likewise, the city of Krounoi in Moesia was renamed Dionysopolis in Moesia when a similarly unusually-shaped piece of wood was recovered from the sea near there.
The reverse of this extremely rare type of tetradrachm from Mytilene displays a xoanon or wooden sculpture of Dionysos. Dionysos was extremely important on Lesbos where a number of mysteries associated with him took place. The images of Athena and Dionysus first appear on the earliest electrum issues of Mytilene. The terminus or xoanon of Dionysus on the prow has also long been associated with the coinage of Mytilene, appearing on its bronze issues. According to Pausanias (10.19.3), an unusual olive-wood "head of unusual features" was caught up in the nets of some Methymnian fishermen off the coast of Lesbos. Although they threw the head back into the sea, they nevertheless picked it up in their nets again and again. Finally, the Methymnians travelled to Delphi to ask the Pythia for assistance on what they should do. She responded, "worship Dionysos Phallen." Subsequently, a cult was established on Lesbos, including a festival in which the object was processed through the streets of Mytilene. Likewise, the city of Krounoi in Moesia was renamed Dionysopolis in Moesia when a similarly unusually-shaped piece of wood was recovered from the sea near there.