Obolos 14

MYSIA. Kyzikos. Circa 550-450 BC. Stater (Electrum, 20 mm, 16.08 g). Head of a goat with long beard to left; behind truncation, tunny fish swimming upwards. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. BMFA 1421. Rosen 438. SNG France 186. Von Fritze I, 48. Very rare. Nicely centered. Flan crack from striking at 8h, otherwise, very fine.

Male goats were associated with Dionysos and Pan and with the all of the woodland and pastoral spirits of the world of Greek mythology. In fact, the word ‘tragedy’ comes from the Greek for ‘goat song’ and refers to the fact that sacrificial goats were prizes in the dramatic contests that were part of the Athenian festival in honor of Dionysos. They were also admired for their potency and exuberance. Kyzikos was famous for its extensive electrum coinage, which began in the 6th century and continued down until the time of Alexander. It was particularly important for trade with the cities and peoples along the Black Sea. Unlike most other coinages that utilized a single type to make their products easily recognizable, the staters and fractions of Kyzikos used a small city-badge, the tunny fish (sometimes just the head or part of the fish on small denominations) combined with a much larger type that varied from issue to issue and was the blazon of the magistrate responsible for the issue itself. There are, thus, hundreds of individual types on the Kyzikene coinage: some are taken from well-known works of art, others are more personal in nature, in some cases it looks as if the engraver involved specialized in certain kinds of representations (such as mythological creatures) and a number of what may be consecutive issues bear related scenes. Whether the issues were produced yearly or more often is unknown. The same goat head appears on a somewhat later hekte from Phokaia, Bodenstedt 51.