MYSIA. Cyzicus. Ca. 550-500 BC. EL stater (18mm, 16.19 gm). NGC XF 5/5 - 3/5, Fine Style, graffito, light edge marks. Nude theriocephalic male (Phobos?) kneeling left, with rounded wings, head of a feline turned back, griffin ears, boar crest, and short curled canid tail, tunny fish held by the tail in right hand, left hand on hip / Quadripartite incuse square. Greenwell 57, pl. III, 7. SNG France 5, 271. SNG von Aulock 1198. Von Fritze 123. Fantastically well struck and centered on antiqued surfaces. Powerful artistry in fine style. Ex Tradart, private sale (31 January 2002). In his 1887 book on Cyzicene coinage, Greenwell lists this issue as "naked male figure, with rounded wings and short tail, and the head of a lion" and goes further to say "a type perhaps impossible to explain with entire satisfaction. The oriental character of the monster is evident, and its occurrence on a coin of Cyzicus may be due to Persian influence." Dr. Imhoof-Blumer, in 1881, described the creature as Fear (Phobos), the son of Ares and Aphrodite, and a similar creature is found on a frieze in Pergamon. Other cultures with similar artistic influences were the Phoenicians and Assyrians. Also, there are a number of bas-relief near the village of Jasili-Kaia, in ancient Cilicia, which are attributed to the Hittites, are two winged monster, one a lion-headed man, the other possibly a dog-headed man. Alternatively, this is, perhaps, a humanized form of Chrysaor, the winged boar brother of Pegasus and son of Poseidon and Medusa, or an amalgam of several of the winged mythical creatures all displayed on Cyzicene coinage. Cyzicus was an important city on the northwestern coast of Anatolia, well positioned to take advantage of trade across and through the Sea of Marmara. Its coinage was in more or less continuous production from circa 550 BC-AD 630, a nearly 1,200 year span unmatched by any other ancient mint. The tunny (tuna) fish was the symbol of Cyzicus from mid-6th century BC, when the city began striking electrum staters and fractions that circulated so widely the generic term for a stater became a cyzicenus. The fishing trade was critical to the economy of Cyzicus and it is likely the tunny fish became a form of pre-coinage currency, which carried over to become a mint symbol after the invention of coinage in nearby Lydia. HID09801242017 © 2023 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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