Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 133 21 Nov 2022
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Greek Coins. Cyrene.
Tetradrachm circa 525-480, AR 17.27 g. Silphium plant with four leaves and two fruits. Rev. Gorgoneion facing in dotted frame within shallow incuse square. BMC 10 and pl. II, 18. cf. NAC 84, 2015, 744 (these dies).
Of the highest rarity, apparently the finest of three of which only two are in private
hands. A very interesting portrait of fine Archaic style and a lovely
old cabinet tone. Good very fine
Ex Glendining & Co 13 December 1963, Foreign Amateur, 367 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 630 sales.
The main sources of prosperity in Cyrene were agriculture and animal husbandry. Olives, grains and grapes were grown in abundance, horses of extraordinary quality were bred, and animals grazed in the less fertile areas, where the silphium plant grew wild. Of all the region's exports, its most famous was silphium, which was used throughout the Mediterranean for food and as a spice, a perfume, and a cure-all with a long list of applications. Several aspects of the silphium plant are shown on the coins of Cyrene. This early tetradrachm displays a few, with the full plant on the obverse, adorned with leaves, flowers and fruits. Extremely interesting in this specimen is the Gorgoneion depicted on the reverse. The gorgoneion with its legendary stare that could turn men to stone was widely popular among the Greeks as an apotropaic emblem used to ward off evil. It is possible that it might have been used on this extremely rare and exquisite tetradrachm of Cyrene to defend the city against those who would envy the great wealth that accrued to it from the export trade in silphium. Much more likely, however, is that the gorgoneion appears here as an allusion to the myth of Perseus and Medusa, much of which took place in Libya, on the very doorstep of Cyrene. Perseus was armed against the gorgon with weapons obtained from the nymphs of the Hesperides, who lived in a garden in Libya and he is said to have turned the Titan Atlas to stone with the head of Medusa on his return journey. Likewise, Perseus used the head to save Andromeda, an Ethiopian princess, from being devoured by a sea monster-she had been condemned by the oracle of Ammon. This oracle was located at the Oasis of Siwah, which was part of the Cyrenaica. This wonderful archaic tetradrachm appears to be known from only three specimens, of which only two in private hands.
Tetradrachm circa 525-480, AR 17.27 g. Silphium plant with four leaves and two fruits. Rev. Gorgoneion facing in dotted frame within shallow incuse square. BMC 10 and pl. II, 18. cf. NAC 84, 2015, 744 (these dies).
Of the highest rarity, apparently the finest of three of which only two are in private
hands. A very interesting portrait of fine Archaic style and a lovely
old cabinet tone. Good very fine
Ex Glendining & Co 13 December 1963, Foreign Amateur, 367 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 630 sales.
The main sources of prosperity in Cyrene were agriculture and animal husbandry. Olives, grains and grapes were grown in abundance, horses of extraordinary quality were bred, and animals grazed in the less fertile areas, where the silphium plant grew wild. Of all the region's exports, its most famous was silphium, which was used throughout the Mediterranean for food and as a spice, a perfume, and a cure-all with a long list of applications. Several aspects of the silphium plant are shown on the coins of Cyrene. This early tetradrachm displays a few, with the full plant on the obverse, adorned with leaves, flowers and fruits. Extremely interesting in this specimen is the Gorgoneion depicted on the reverse. The gorgoneion with its legendary stare that could turn men to stone was widely popular among the Greeks as an apotropaic emblem used to ward off evil. It is possible that it might have been used on this extremely rare and exquisite tetradrachm of Cyrene to defend the city against those who would envy the great wealth that accrued to it from the export trade in silphium. Much more likely, however, is that the gorgoneion appears here as an allusion to the myth of Perseus and Medusa, much of which took place in Libya, on the very doorstep of Cyrene. Perseus was armed against the gorgon with weapons obtained from the nymphs of the Hesperides, who lived in a garden in Libya and he is said to have turned the Titan Atlas to stone with the head of Medusa on his return journey. Likewise, Perseus used the head to save Andromeda, an Ethiopian princess, from being devoured by a sea monster-she had been condemned by the oracle of Ammon. This oracle was located at the Oasis of Siwah, which was part of the Cyrenaica. This wonderful archaic tetradrachm appears to be known from only three specimens, of which only two in private hands.