Nomos AG
Auction 26 21 May 2023
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SICILY. Himera. Circa 415-409 BC. Litra (Silver, 12 mm, 0.71 g, 11 h), summer 409. ΙΜΕΡΑΙ• Head of youthful Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress. Rev. Statuette of Athena - the Palladion - shown standing facing, wearing a helmet, cuirass and a peplos, holding her shield in her left hand and brandishing her spear in her right. Buceti 110. Extremely rare. Nicely struck, clear and with a dark patina as found. Good very fine.
From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions.
While it is often difficult to make iconographic arguments from the types on very small coins, it seems very likely that the figure of Athena on the reverse of this piece represents the goddess in the form of the Palladion, a protective statuette. The name is derived from Pallas, a childhood friend of Athena's who the goddess accidentally killed, and whose name she took on as epithet in in her honour. The most famous Palladion was an ancient wooden statuette that protected Troy, until Odysseus and Diomedes stole it. Its appearance on the coinage of Himera must have had an apotropaic function in the face of the coming Carthaginian threat, which means this coin would have been struck in the summer of 409 around the time of, or just after, the destruction of Selinos, and just prior to the Carthaginian attack on Himera that ended in the city's destruction in late summer or early autumn.
From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions.
While it is often difficult to make iconographic arguments from the types on very small coins, it seems very likely that the figure of Athena on the reverse of this piece represents the goddess in the form of the Palladion, a protective statuette. The name is derived from Pallas, a childhood friend of Athena's who the goddess accidentally killed, and whose name she took on as epithet in in her honour. The most famous Palladion was an ancient wooden statuette that protected Troy, until Odysseus and Diomedes stole it. Its appearance on the coinage of Himera must have had an apotropaic function in the face of the coming Carthaginian threat, which means this coin would have been struck in the summer of 409 around the time of, or just after, the destruction of Selinos, and just prior to the Carthaginian attack on Himera that ended in the city's destruction in late summer or early autumn.