Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 138 18-19 May 2023
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The Carthaginians in Sicily and North Africa.
Trihemistater, Carthago circa 270-260, AV 12.51 g. Head of Tanit (Kore-Persephone) l., wearing barley-wreath, bar and triple pendant earring and necklace with pendants. Rev. Horse standing r., head turned back. AMB 569. MAA 26. SNG Copenhagen 181. Jenkins & Lewis 390.
Rare and in exceptional condition. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
From an Exceptional Collection assembled between the early 70s and late 90s.
Graded Ch AU* Strike 5/5 Surface 4/5, Fine style, NCG certification number 6558856-001
This piece belongs to the group IX of the Jenkins-Lewis' series. The gold of that group was, until 1948, known only by the unique piece in the de Luynes collection; but a hoard discovered at Tunis in that year brought to light at least thirty-five and perhaps as many as sixty further specimens. On this group, the style of the Tanit head is rich, beautiful and characteristic in excess of anything previously seen on the Carthaginian coinage. Tanit was the primary deity of Carthage: a celestial divinity with some fertility aspects, a North African equivalent of Astarte. She is always depicted on the coinage wearing a wreath of grain which may have been borrowed from Demeter and Persephone as the Carthaginians assimilated the Sicilian culture into their own during the various Punic excursions to the island. On the reverse, the horse, is also related to the Carthaginian tradition. Müller suggests that the horse at Carthage is a symbol of Libya, or Poseidon. There is also the possibility that it is a symbol of the war-god Hadad-Ba'al, or the sun-god. However, it cannot be excluded that the horse may be a piece of nationalistic, rather than religious, symbolism, though perhaps associated to Tanit herself. Indeed, according to Virgil's Aeneid, the Phoenician colonists who founded Carthage were told by Juno (or Tanit) to establish the new colony at the place where they discovered a horse's head in the ground. Another theory is that the obverse head is actually Demeter or Persephone, whose worship was introduced to Carthage in 396 BC to make amends for the destruction of the goddesses' temples outside Syracuse by the Carthaginian army.
Trihemistater, Carthago circa 270-260, AV 12.51 g. Head of Tanit (Kore-Persephone) l., wearing barley-wreath, bar and triple pendant earring and necklace with pendants. Rev. Horse standing r., head turned back. AMB 569. MAA 26. SNG Copenhagen 181. Jenkins & Lewis 390.
Rare and in exceptional condition. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
From an Exceptional Collection assembled between the early 70s and late 90s.
Graded Ch AU* Strike 5/5 Surface 4/5, Fine style, NCG certification number 6558856-001
This piece belongs to the group IX of the Jenkins-Lewis' series. The gold of that group was, until 1948, known only by the unique piece in the de Luynes collection; but a hoard discovered at Tunis in that year brought to light at least thirty-five and perhaps as many as sixty further specimens. On this group, the style of the Tanit head is rich, beautiful and characteristic in excess of anything previously seen on the Carthaginian coinage. Tanit was the primary deity of Carthage: a celestial divinity with some fertility aspects, a North African equivalent of Astarte. She is always depicted on the coinage wearing a wreath of grain which may have been borrowed from Demeter and Persephone as the Carthaginians assimilated the Sicilian culture into their own during the various Punic excursions to the island. On the reverse, the horse, is also related to the Carthaginian tradition. Müller suggests that the horse at Carthage is a symbol of Libya, or Poseidon. There is also the possibility that it is a symbol of the war-god Hadad-Ba'al, or the sun-god. However, it cannot be excluded that the horse may be a piece of nationalistic, rather than religious, symbolism, though perhaps associated to Tanit herself. Indeed, according to Virgil's Aeneid, the Phoenician colonists who founded Carthage were told by Juno (or Tanit) to establish the new colony at the place where they discovered a horse's head in the ground. Another theory is that the obverse head is actually Demeter or Persephone, whose worship was introduced to Carthage in 396 BC to make amends for the destruction of the goddesses' temples outside Syracuse by the Carthaginian army.