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Auction: 23007 - Ancient Coins Including the 'Kyrios' Collection of Greek Coins and featuring the 'Ostorius' Collection of Roman Gold
Lot: 82

The 'Kyrios' Collection | Attica, Aegina, AR Stater, c. 480-457 BC, 'land tortoise' with 'T-back' pattern on shell, seen from above, head in profile, rev. large incuse skew pattern, 12.06g (Gulbenkian 523; HGC 6, 448; Kraay & Hirmer 336; Milbank Period III, pl. I, 15; SNG Copenhagen 507; SNG Delepierre 1528-9), slight die-flaw to obverse but a highly impressive reverse, overall very fine to good very fine

PROVENANCE

Purchased from Baldwin's, 2019 - £950, with ticket


Strategically located between Attica and the Peloponnese in the Saronic gulf, Aegina was one of the more prominent Archaic states in the Greek world. Nor did this prominence emerge ex nihilo - as the 'Aegina Treasure' has revealed, the island was already well connected with the Minoans in the Bronze Age.

Owing to its prominent position on major shipping arteries, it is perhaps unsurprising that they emerged as one of the earliest and most prominent mints in Greece proper in the 6th century. By 550, production of the famous 'sea-turtle' staters had begun on the island with its coins being spread far and wide by its merchants from Magna Graecia to the Black Sea.

The perceived antiquity of Aegintine coins was captured by the Greek scholar from Naukratis, Julius Pollux in the 2nd century AD who claimed in his Onomasticon that Pheidon of Argos was the first of all to strike coins replacing the previously used 'spits', and he did this in Aegina. This was not necessarily the most common opinion - both Xenophanes and Herodotus correctly attribute the Lydians with the invention - nevertheless it is undeniable that Aegintine coinage was both early and important and perceived as such in the Ancient world.

The choice of the turtle design remains mysterious, however it may be connected with the most prominent cult on the island to Aphaia. Aphaia, a native goddess was closely associated with Artemis, a goddess who in other sanctuaries, especially at Orthia in Sparta, was connected with the turtle or tortoise, although the mythological background to this remains opaque. An epithet Artemis Chelitis is even mentioned by Clement, mostly likely morphologically connected to chelus the Greek word for turtle and tortoise. It is entirely possible that Aphaia too was associated with the animal especially as turtle shaped votives have been found at the sanctuary on the island.

The success of the island, however, was not to last. The thelassocracy was undermined and dethroned altogether by the growing prominence of nearby Athens in the 5th century. Herodotus catalogued the increasingly strained relations - already by the 6th century Solon had legislated against Aegintine trade in Attica. Rivalry sparked sporadic outbreaks of war culminating in a crushing Athenian victory in 458 in the course of the 'First Peloponnesian war'. Aegina reduced was forced to pay tribute to Athens, before being humbled further during the major Peloponnesian war losing all autonomy.

The dramatic decline of Aegina famously was reflected in its coinage. The turtle design was famously replaced with the tortoise, symbolic of the end of her naval power. A good example of this is found in Lot 93.

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Sold for
£1,000

Starting price
£700