★ Extremely Rare! ★

Cilicia, Mallos. Time of Artaxerxes II to Darios III. AR Obol, 0.69 g 9.77 mm. 404-330 BC.
Obv: Herakles, nude, kneeling right on club, strangling the Nemean lion.
Rev: The Persian Great King in kneeling-running stance right, holding transverse spear pointing downard in his right hand and bow in his left.
Ref: Apparently unpublished.Leu Numismatik 5,168 (1400 CHF)
VF/ Extremely Rare!

This rare and evocative obol offers a fascinating insight into the complex cultural interplay between the Greek and Persian worlds during the late Classical period. On the obverse, the figure of Herakles—one of the most enduring heroes of Greek mythology—is shown engaged in his first and perhaps most famous labor: the slaying of the Nemean lion. His pose, kneeling on his club while wrestling the beast, conveys both the intensity and the near-divine strength attributed to him by the Greek tradition.

The reverse features a distinctly Persian image: the Great King of the Achaemenid Empire, characterized by his iconic stance, a spear poised downward in one hand and a bow in the other. This depiction, emblematic of Persian royal ideology, symbolizes both martial prowess and divine favor—qualities essential for the ruler of the vast Persian territories.

Although many small silver coins from 4th-century B.C Cilicia lack identifying inscriptions, the close parallel of types to staters explicitly attributed to Mallos (cf. SNG Paris 398 and 402) allows a strong attribution of this remarkable piece to that city. Mallos, an important religious and commercial center near the mouth of the Pyramus River, stood at the crossroads of Greek and Persian influences during this period, a fact that is vividly expressed in the dual imagery of this coin.

Thus, this obol is more than just a miniature artwork; it is a historical document that encapsulates the cultural and political realities of Cilicia under Persian rule, where local Greek traditions coexisted—and intertwined—with imperial Persian power.