Evagoras II, circa 361 – 351

Stater circa 361-351, AV 17 mm, 8.20 g. Lion standing l., devouring prey; eagle on its back. Rev. EYA Artemis (or Apollo ?) standing r., wearing short chiton and quiver on his back, drawing bow. Markou L’or p. 314, III (see note below).
Apparently unique and an issue of great interest and fascination. Good very fine

Ex Triton VII, 2004, 335 and Triton XIX, 2016, 2061 sales. From the Dr. Lawrence A. Adams collection. From a Scandinavian private collection.
Evagoras II was probably the grandson of Evagoras I, the great Greek king of Salamis in the early fourth century BC. However, whereas Evagoras I had strongly pursued alliances with Athens as a means of expanding the power of Salamis and maintaining its independence from the Persian Empire, Evagoras II was subservient to the Great King. His pro-Persian policies offended his people’s desire for autonomy like other Greek states and in 351 BC he was overthrown in a popular uprising led by his nephew, Pnytagoras. Evagoras II was forced to flee from Cyprus and escaped to the Persian court of Artaxerxes III. The Great King rewarded his former loyalty by making him governor of Sidon in the stead of its rebellious Phoenician governor. Unfortunately, Evagoras II proved to be as obnoxious to the Sidonians as he had been to the Salaminians and in 346 BC, after only three years in power, he was forced to flee from Phoenicia to Cyprus. There was a bitter homecoming awaiting him. Upon his arrival, Evagoras II was arrested and executed on the orders of Pnytagoras. Interestingly, despite the pro-Persian stance of Evagoras II, his coinage is probably the most Hellenic in style of all the kings of Salamis who preceded him. He was the first to abandon the old Cypriot syllabary in favour of the Greek alphabet for his coin inscriptions.
E. Markou, in her book on the gold coinage of Cyprus, condemned this coin based on the iconography of the reverse. However, that determination was predicated on the assumption that the figure represented Herakles, which it clearly does not. In private correspondence with Markou, she agreed that the type more likely represented Artemis or Apollo, but still rejects this iconography on a Cypriot coin. In our opinion, the coin is clearly of ancient manufacture, and genuine in all respects. The appearance of this iconography, too, is unexceptional; though it may be unique to coinage on Cyprus, the depiction of Artemis or Apollo shooting a bow is well known on other coinage of the Greek world (see, e.g., at Abdera [cf. May 458], Ambrakeia [cf. BMC 20], Corinth [cf. Pegasi 454], Eleuthernai [cf. Svoronos 1], Larissa [cf. Rogers 307 and BCD 1174], and Syracuse [cf. HGC 2, 1412]). Moreover, the portrait of both Artemis and Apollo is known on other coins of Cyprus. In sum, it is our opinion that the type is not dispositive of the authenticity of the piece, and it has all the characteristics of an ancient coin.