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Electronic Auction 512 23 Mar 2022
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CILICIA, Mopsouestia-Mopsos. Valerian I. AD 253-260. Æ (32mm, 20.12 g, 6h). Dated CY 321 (AD 253/4). Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / Hercules left, strangling the Nemean Lion; ЄT/AKT (date) to upper left, club to lower left. von Aulock Mopsos 81; SNG BN –; SNG Levante –; Voegtli 1m; BMC 23. Brown surfaces, porosity, pit on obverse. Near VF. Rare.
Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 324 (9 April 2014), lot 261; Kelly J. Krizan, M.D. Collection; James E. Cain Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 76, 12 September 2007), lot 985.
Hercules, made temporarily insane by the goddess Hera, murdered his wife and children. Once recovered, and distressed by his actions, he consulted the Delphic Oracle to find a means of expiating his sin. As a punishment, Apollo replied that the hero would have to serve his cousin Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns and a man whom Hercules despised, for a period of twelve years. Because Eurystheus also hated Hercules, he devised a series of ten feats of such difficulty that they would be either insurmountable, or Hercules would die in the attempt. Because Hercules received assistance in completing two of the tasks, Eurystheus added two more, with each becoming more fantastic. Once he accomplished the Labors, he was absolved of his guilt, and proceeded to perform many other heroic feats.
The First Labor was to slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its skin. The Nemean Lion, called thus as it had been terrorizing the area around Nemea, had a skin so thick that it was impenetrable to weapons. After making futile attempts to subdue it with his weapons, Hercules cast them aside and wrestled the lion to the ground, eventually killing it by thrusting his arm down its throat and choking it to death. Skinning the beast was no easy task, either. After Herakles spent hours trying unsuccessfully to skin the lion, Athena, in the guise of an old crone, appeared to him, and convinced him to use the creature's own claws to cut the hide. Thereafter, the hide became the hero's own impenetrable armor. When Eurystheus saw Herakles wearing his new fearsome outfit, he hid in a large bronze jar, and thenceforth commanded the hero through a herald.
Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 324 (9 April 2014), lot 261; Kelly J. Krizan, M.D. Collection; James E. Cain Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 76, 12 September 2007), lot 985.
Hercules, made temporarily insane by the goddess Hera, murdered his wife and children. Once recovered, and distressed by his actions, he consulted the Delphic Oracle to find a means of expiating his sin. As a punishment, Apollo replied that the hero would have to serve his cousin Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns and a man whom Hercules despised, for a period of twelve years. Because Eurystheus also hated Hercules, he devised a series of ten feats of such difficulty that they would be either insurmountable, or Hercules would die in the attempt. Because Hercules received assistance in completing two of the tasks, Eurystheus added two more, with each becoming more fantastic. Once he accomplished the Labors, he was absolved of his guilt, and proceeded to perform many other heroic feats.
The First Labor was to slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its skin. The Nemean Lion, called thus as it had been terrorizing the area around Nemea, had a skin so thick that it was impenetrable to weapons. After making futile attempts to subdue it with his weapons, Hercules cast them aside and wrestled the lion to the ground, eventually killing it by thrusting his arm down its throat and choking it to death. Skinning the beast was no easy task, either. After Herakles spent hours trying unsuccessfully to skin the lion, Athena, in the guise of an old crone, appeared to him, and convinced him to use the creature's own claws to cut the hide. Thereafter, the hide became the hero's own impenetrable armor. When Eurystheus saw Herakles wearing his new fearsome outfit, he hid in a large bronze jar, and thenceforth commanded the hero through a herald.