Obolos 13

CILICIA. Uncertain. Circa 4th Century BC. Obol (Silver, 11 mm, 0.69 g, 12 h). Turreted and bearded male head of Persian style to left. Rev. Bearded male head facing (Nergal?), with a turreted crown and with a facing lion's mask underneath and blending into his beard. SNG Cop. -. SNG Levante -. SNG France 485. SNG von Aulock -. Winzer 3.1 (as Artaxerxes III). A fine example of a rare and iconographically fascinating type. About extremely fine.

The head on the reverse of this coin is really extraordinary, even for 4th century Cilicia, which is well-known for unusual iconography. The Paris sylloge identifies the reverse portrait as possibly being that of Herakles: the turreted crown, off the flan on the Paris coin, makes that identification impossible. The most likely explanation is that the head is that of Nergal, the rather dark Mesopotamian god of war and pestilence. As such, this is an unexpectedly surprising iconographic coin type.