LESBOS. Mytilene. Ca. 412-378 BC. EL sixth-stater or hecte (11mm, 2.54 gm, 1h). NGC Choice VF 3/5 - 4/5. Female head right (Artemis?), hair pulled back into top knot / Male head right with horn atop forehead (Pan or Actaeon?), in square linear frame, all within incuse square. Bodenstedt 69. HGC 6, 995. Well centered, with a charming female head. The normal description of this type, following Bodenstedt, lists the obverse head as an unidentified female, and the reverse horned male head as Pan. However, the hairstyle on the obverse is often sported by the huntress-goddess Artemis, and the reverse more closely resembles other depictions of the handsome hunter-turned-stag Actaeon than it does the snub-nosed Pan. Such an obverse-reverse match would also cohere with the mythology of this pair.

HID09801242017

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