★ River-God Lacydon ★

GAUL. Massalia. Circa 400 BC. Obol (Silver, 9 mm, 0.61 g). ΜΑΣΣΑΛΙΩΤΑΝ Bare head of the river-god Lacydon to right, with a tiny horn above his forehead ( this obverse type is commonly described as being a head of Apollo ). Rev. M in one quarter of four-spoked wheel. Feugère & Py, OBM 6h. Maurel 319. Extremely well struck reverse. Minor marks, otherwise, very fine.

The early "Apollo" head obols of Massalia - in fact, the head is that of the river-god Lacydon - began in the late 5th century BC with obols or litrai weighing c. 0.86 g; these soon changed to a lower weight of c. 0.72. This is a fine example of that latter group. The obverse head was strongly influenced by the head of the river-god Anapos on the contemporary gold 50 litrai pieces struck c. 405-400 BC by Dionysios I of Syracuse