Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 134 21 Nov 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Greek Coins. Naxos.
Didrachm circa 430-415, AR 8.67 g. NAΞIΩN Laureate head of Apollo r.; behind, laurel leaf with berry. Rev. Squatting naked Silenus, holding cantharus in uplifted r. hand and thyrsus in l.; in field r., tendril and ivy-leaves; to l., herm. Jameson 679 (these dies). de Luynes 1069 (these dies). SNG ANS 525 (these dies). Rizzo pl. 28, 25 (these dies). Cahn 108.
Extremely rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, undoubtedly among the finest
specimens known. Perfectly centred on a full flan and with a light tone. Extremely fine
From a private British collection assembled prior to 2007.
Although the city of Naxos was founded in Sicily by colonists from Euboean Chalcis in 735 BC, it appears to have been named after the homonymous island in the Cyclades. The Chalcidian Greek origin of the Naxians frequently led to conflict with the rival Dorian Greek settlers of cities like Gela and Syracuse in the early fifth century BC. Naxos was conquered by Hippocrates, the tyrant of Gela, in 493 BC, and in 476 BC the Syracusan tyrant Hiero I captured the city and forced the inhabitants to relocate to Leontini so that he could give their old homes over to Dorian settlers. The Naxians, however, returned to their city after the death of Hiero I. It is not surprising that when Leontini later came into conflict with Syracuse in 427 BC, Naxos and other Chalcidian cities of Sicily formed an alliance to help defend it against their collective Dorian enemy. The present didrachm may have been struck in the context of the Naxian struggle against Syracuse that dragged on until the last years of the fifth century BC. During the Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415-413 BC, the Naxians had frequently aided the Athenians against Syracuse, and in 404 BC, Dionysius I, the new tyrant of Syracuse, took revenge by destroying the city and giving its territory to the surrounding native Sicel population. The obverse type depicts the head of Apollo, the divine ancestor of the Chalcidian and Ionian Greeks and the god who was largely responsible for sanctifying the dispatch of colonists to Sicily and elsewhere. The reverse features a highly artistic rendering of Selinus, a popular boon companion of the wine-god Dionysus. The use of foreshortening and the three-quarter facing treatment of the head together reveal the great skill of the engraver. The Dionysiac associations of the reverse may have been intended to allude to the name of the issuing city, since the homonymous island of Naxos is where Dionysus was said to have found Ariadne after she was abandoned by Theseus and took her for his own wife.
Didrachm circa 430-415, AR 8.67 g. NAΞIΩN Laureate head of Apollo r.; behind, laurel leaf with berry. Rev. Squatting naked Silenus, holding cantharus in uplifted r. hand and thyrsus in l.; in field r., tendril and ivy-leaves; to l., herm. Jameson 679 (these dies). de Luynes 1069 (these dies). SNG ANS 525 (these dies). Rizzo pl. 28, 25 (these dies). Cahn 108.
Extremely rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, undoubtedly among the finest
specimens known. Perfectly centred on a full flan and with a light tone. Extremely fine
From a private British collection assembled prior to 2007.
Although the city of Naxos was founded in Sicily by colonists from Euboean Chalcis in 735 BC, it appears to have been named after the homonymous island in the Cyclades. The Chalcidian Greek origin of the Naxians frequently led to conflict with the rival Dorian Greek settlers of cities like Gela and Syracuse in the early fifth century BC. Naxos was conquered by Hippocrates, the tyrant of Gela, in 493 BC, and in 476 BC the Syracusan tyrant Hiero I captured the city and forced the inhabitants to relocate to Leontini so that he could give their old homes over to Dorian settlers. The Naxians, however, returned to their city after the death of Hiero I. It is not surprising that when Leontini later came into conflict with Syracuse in 427 BC, Naxos and other Chalcidian cities of Sicily formed an alliance to help defend it against their collective Dorian enemy. The present didrachm may have been struck in the context of the Naxian struggle against Syracuse that dragged on until the last years of the fifth century BC. During the Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415-413 BC, the Naxians had frequently aided the Athenians against Syracuse, and in 404 BC, Dionysius I, the new tyrant of Syracuse, took revenge by destroying the city and giving its territory to the surrounding native Sicel population. The obverse type depicts the head of Apollo, the divine ancestor of the Chalcidian and Ionian Greeks and the god who was largely responsible for sanctifying the dispatch of colonists to Sicily and elsewhere. The reverse features a highly artistic rendering of Selinus, a popular boon companion of the wine-god Dionysus. The use of foreshortening and the three-quarter facing treatment of the head together reveal the great skill of the engraver. The Dionysiac associations of the reverse may have been intended to allude to the name of the issuing city, since the homonymous island of Naxos is where Dionysus was said to have found Ariadne after she was abandoned by Theseus and took her for his own wife.