CARIAN ISLANDS. Rhodes. Ca. 404-385 BC. AR tetradrachm (26mm, 15.15 gm, 1h). NGC AU 4/5 - 4/5. Head of Helios facing, turned slightly right, hair arrayed in radiating waves / POΔION, rose with single bud on tendril to either side; A in lower left field, all within deep incuse square. HGC 6, 1418. High relief dies and deep cabinet toning. From the Paramount Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 5 (25 February 1992), lot 157. The city of Rhodes on its eponymous island was a relatively late foundation, formed in 408 BC by the union of Ialussus, Camirus and Lindus. Its strategic position on an island between Europe and Asia Minor assured its prosperity and growing importance as a naval power. The citizens chose as their patron deity Helios, god of the sun, whose rays shone down with such alluring brilliance year-round on the island. This superb coin actually predates the construction of the city's most famous landmark, the Colossus of Rhodes, a towering stature of Helios that stood alongside the harbor.

HID09801242017

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