Crete, Cnossus
Tetradrachm circa 80, AR 13.76 g. Laureate head of Apollo l.; in fields, ΠOΛ –XOΣ. Rev. KNΩ – Σ – I – ΩN Labyrinth. BMC 41 (these dies). SNG Lockett 2542 (these dies). Svoronos, Crète pl. 6, 18 (these dies).
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. A spectacular coin with a very
impressive portrait of Hellenistic style. An unobtrusive edge chip at eleven
o'clock on obverse and minor porosity, otherwise extremely fine

Ex Leu 15, 1976, 263; Leu 42, 1987, 266 and Morton & Eden 51, 2011, Exceptional Greek Coins, 125 sales.

Cnossos had been the great capital of the Minoan civilization on Crete during the Bronze Age and its grand palace complex has sometimes been described as representing the first city of Europe. Although Cnossos was destroyed in ca. 1370 BC, probably by Mycenean invaders from mainland Greece, the memory of the palace and the importance that bulls 1370 BC, probably by Mycenean invaders from mainland Greece, the memory of the palace and the importance that bulls had enjoyed in Minoan culture lived on in the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. According to the myth, the powerful king Minos of Crete ordered his skilled builder Daedalus to construct a vast maze known as the labyrinth—a memory of the winding streets of the ruined Cnossian palace complex—to imprison the Minotaur, the monstrous offspring of his wife Pasiphae and the Cretan Bull. In order to keep the Minotaur fed, Minos ordered the conquered city of Athens to provide a tribute of seven youths and seven maidens every nine years. This terrible tribute was only brought to an end when the hero Theseus, with assistance from Minos’ daughter Ariadne, braved the labyrinth and killed the Minotaur. Through the frequent retelling of this myth, the labyrinth became the most famous landmark in Cnossos and indeed all of Crete. By the Hellenistic period the labyrinth maze had evolved into the civic emblem of Cnossos and made frequent appearances on the city’s coinage down to the Roman Imperial period. While the labyrinth is most commonly depicted in a square form on this remarkable tetradrachm, it has been given a circular form in order to better follow the contour of the coin’s edge. It is paired with a beautifully-executed head of Apollo on the obverse.