Savoca Coins
Online Auction 124 | Silver 23 Jan 2022
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Attica. Athens. Pseudo-autonomous issue AD 120-140.
Bronze Æ
21 mm, 4,85 g
Helmeted bust of Athena right / [ΑΘΗ]Ν-ΑΙΩΝ, Athena Parthenos standing facing, head to left, holding Nike in her right hand and resting her left on shield set on ground; spear leaning against her left arm; [serpent before].
Black green patina with orichalcum highlights. Nearly very fine.
Cf. RPC IV.1 online 8186; Cf. J.N.Svoronos, Les monnaies d'Athènes, pl. 82, 29-33.
Ex Dr. F. Jarman Collection.
On reverse of this coin is depicted one of the most famous statues of the antiquity: Athena Parthenos made by Phidias and his assistants and housed in the Parthenon in Athens.
A short description of the ancient historian Pausanias of the statue:
"...The statue is created with ivory and gold. On the middle of her helmet is likeness of the Sphinx ... and on either side of the helmet are griffins in relief... The statue of Athena is upright, with a tunic reaching to the feet, and on her breast the head of Medusa is worked in ivory. She holds a statue of Nike that is approximately four cubits high, and in the other hand a spear; at her feet lies a shield and near the spear is a serpent. This serpent would be Erichthonios. On the pedestal is the birth of Pandora in relief".
Bronze Æ
21 mm, 4,85 g
Helmeted bust of Athena right / [ΑΘΗ]Ν-ΑΙΩΝ, Athena Parthenos standing facing, head to left, holding Nike in her right hand and resting her left on shield set on ground; spear leaning against her left arm; [serpent before].
Black green patina with orichalcum highlights. Nearly very fine.
Cf. RPC IV.1 online 8186; Cf. J.N.Svoronos, Les monnaies d'Athènes, pl. 82, 29-33.
Ex Dr. F. Jarman Collection.
On reverse of this coin is depicted one of the most famous statues of the antiquity: Athena Parthenos made by Phidias and his assistants and housed in the Parthenon in Athens.
A short description of the ancient historian Pausanias of the statue:
"...The statue is created with ivory and gold. On the middle of her helmet is likeness of the Sphinx ... and on either side of the helmet are griffins in relief... The statue of Athena is upright, with a tunic reaching to the feet, and on her breast the head of Medusa is worked in ivory. She holds a statue of Nike that is approximately four cubits high, and in the other hand a spear; at her feet lies a shield and near the spear is a serpent. This serpent would be Erichthonios. On the pedestal is the birth of Pandora in relief".