Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 23007 - Ancient Coins Including the 'Kyrios' Collection of Greek Coins and featuring the 'Ostorius' Collection of Roman Gold
Lot: 103

The 'Kyrios' Collection | Satraps of Caria, Maussolos, AR Tetradrachm, c. 377-353 BC, laureate head of Apollo facing slightly right, rev. MAYSSOLLO Zeus Laubrandos standing right, holding labrys over shoulder and long sceptre, 15.25g (Hurter, Pixodaros, pl. 33, 36 (same dies); SNG von Aulock 2359), struck in high relief, centred perfectly and darkly toned, extremely fine, marvellous and of great rarity

Provenance

Spink Numismatic Circular, May 2010, GK2907, 'an excellent example in good metal, about extremely fine' - £5,500 [CG7727/1]

Bryan Cooper Collection of Greek Coins, Baldwins, Dimitry Markov and M&M New York Sale XX, 7 January 2009, lot 43, 'extremely fine' - $4,500

Spink Numismatic Circular April 2007, GK2180, 'toned, virtually extremely fine' - £3,000


Maussolos has one of the most recognisable names in antiquity giving his name to the eponymous tomb, one of the 'Seven Wonders of the Ancient World'. Ruling as a satrap of Caria, alongside his wife and sister, his kingdom occupied a curious position at the fringes of both the Greek and the Persian worlds. The famous Mausoleum especially has been identified as an exemplar of a cultural 'creolisation' in which Hellenic elements made by Greek sculptors adorned a monument distinctively Carian in type. Such a monument is inconceivable without this cultural blending - elements of two distinctive cultures were creatively combined to create something altogether unique.
Such cultural bilingualism is too apparent on Maussolos' coinage. The distinctive obverse type with Apollo facing slightly right appears influenced by an iconographic precedent on the coinage of neighbouring Greek Rhodes. It is, however, the reverse which most of all exposes this curious cultural mixture in a curious act of religious syncretism.
Labrandos was an unusual epithet to Zeus referring to the Carian sanctuary of Lebraunda to Zeus which had been occupied since the 7th century BC. The name 'Lebraunda' appears derived from the word for a type of double axe - the 'lebrys' which Zeus holds over his shoulder on the reverse. The axe was the most essential part of the sanctuary purportedly given to the Carians by Gyges for their performance in battle. Statues of Zeus Labrandos appear even less Classical than the coin reverse - most commonly this Zeus is depicted wearing an elaborate lotus crown. Nevertheless, Zeus' appearance on the coin appears not especially Greek. The curiously mixed iconography derives from local syncretic worship to a local god which at some point had acquired Egyptian attributes. A possible answer is that this local god was a version of the Hittite god Tarhunt, the god of the heavens, who gradually became assimilated with Zeus.
The religious landscape of Caria in this period was diverse and changing. Strabo records only two sanctuaries to Zeus, including the one at Lebraunda. However, this is a misleading picture as three other sanctuaries are archaeologically attested, none of which can be attributed to recognisably 'Greek' gods. In fact, one is even dedicated to the distinctively local god Sinuri. Zeus Lebrandos emerges as a curious mixture in a religiously diverse region. A local god has become assimilated with Zeus resulting in a unique iconographic depiction, something that appears neither fully Greek nor Carian but is in fact a bit of both simultaneously.


Subject to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers.

Sold for
£13,000

Starting price
£4500