CIMMERIAN BOSPOROS. Pantikapaion. Circa 310-304/3 BC. Tetrachalkon (Bronze, 21 mm, 6.31 g, 11 h). Bearded head of satyr to right. Rev. Π-Α-Ν Forepart of griffin left; below, sturgeon to left. HGC 7, 113. MacDonald 69. Green patina. Hairline flan cracks, otherwise, good very fine.

Pantikapaion, located on the western shore of the Cimmerian Bosporos, was originally founded by Milesians either in the late seventh century BC or the early decades of the sixth. The cult of the rustic god Pan - usually depicted with his head, torso, and arms human, but his lower half with the legs and hooves of a goat, and also with the ears and horns of a goat - was prominent at Pantikapaion, and the god (sometimes, as here, referred simply as a satyr) featured as the principal type on much of the city's coinage. The rendition of Pan on this coin is exceptional, capturing his fierce wildness, with a pug nose, wrinkled brow, piercing gaze, and robust shaggy head of hair and a thick, full beard.