Nomos 18

CILICIA. Tarsos. 425-400 BC. Stater (Silver, 20 mm, 10.81 g, 10 h). Male hero (Bellerophon), apparently nude but for his petasos, riding winged Pegasos flying to right, holding bridle with his left hand and, with his right, thrusting a trident downwards to right; visible on the winged horse's flank behind the wing, traces of saddle cloth; below, on ground line, ankh; border of dots. Rev. Male hero (Bellerophon), apparently nude but for his petasos, riding winged Pegasos leaping to left, holding bridle with his left hand and, with his right, thrusting a trident downwards to left; visible on the winged horse's flank behind the wing, traces of saddle cloth; below in field, ankh with flat bottom or key symbol; all within dotted border and incuse square. Unpublished, but see Roma XVI, 2018, 331 (same dies but of inferior condition). Extremely rare, one of three known examples, all struck from the same obverse die, but from two reverse dies. A superb, sharp, lightly toned example. Extremely fine.

The curious thing about this coin is the double depiction of the mythical hero Bellerophon: flying on the obverse and leaping on the reverse. Of especial interest is the fact that the rider uses a trident, rather than a spear: this could imply that he is a local Cilician hero, since Bellerophon is usually depicted using a spear rather than a trident. Yet this may not be a serious objection since Bellerophon was, of course, the son of Poseidon by Eurynome (her actual husband was Glaukos, son of Sisyphos, but in a complicated affair caused by Zeus's dislike of Sisyphos, Glaukos was not allowed to father children); thus, the trident may well have been a gift to Bellerophon from his actual father. In any event, Bellerophon, like Ikaros, became so hubristic that he tried to fly to Olympus, but Zeus caused Pegasos to bolt, throwing off Bellerophon who was blinded when he landed in a Cilician thorn bush. There is a tomb in Tlos, Lykia, which is supposed to be his, though that is rather unlikely. As mentioned in the note to the preceding lot, the ankh is thought by some to be the symbol of Tarsos. It is also worth noting that the engraver responsible for the obverse die had a real problem showing the hero's trident. As one would expect, Bellerophon is brandishing it with his right hand: we can see the hilt in his upraised hand and the trident head in front of Pegasos' neck. However, since the type is moving to the right, and both Bellerophon's and Pegasos' right sides are facing the viewer, a proper depiction of the trident would have shown the shaft passing before both the rider's and the horse's body; but the engraver was apparently unable to do that. So our artist had the trident pass behind Bellerophon on his left side, in a way that would be virtually impossible for a normal human rider to do.