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Nomos 22

22 June 2021
Zunfthaus zur Saffran, Zurich

overview
Estimate: 30000 CHF
Hammer Price:  32000 CHF
Lot 62
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SICILY. Uncertain Punic mint on Sicily, possibly Entella. Circa 320-310 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 25.5 mm, 17.12 g, 6 h). Head of 'Dido-Tanit' to left, with long, exuberantly curled hair, wearing a Phrygian cap encircled with a plain diadem tied above her forehead. Rev. S'MMHNT (People of the Camp, in Punic) Lion walking to left, his head turned out to his left, and three-quarters facing; behind, a palm tree with three clusters of dates; inscription in the exergue. Jameson 911, Jenkins, Punic, 270, Kraay & Hirmer 209 and Rizzo pl. LXVI, 6 (all same dies). Very rare. A coin of refined, late Classical Greek style with a serenely beautiful head of a goddess. Slightly rough surfaces from corrosion, otherwise, extremely fine.

From a Swiss collection formed in the Ticino prior to 2000.

While certainly designed to serve as pay for mercenaries during Carthage's wars with Agathokles of Syracuse, the artistic quality of this coin type, marks it out as a significant exception to the usual run of Siculo-Punic tetradrachms struck by the Carthaginians. All of those are based on existing Sicilian types: this head of a goddess that appears on this obverse is a completely new type. Who is she? She is traditionally termed Dido, the mythical queen of Carthage so familiar from the Aeneid, or Tanit, the city's main goddess; but the Phrygian bonnet has led others to identify her as a syncretistic combination of Kybele or Artemis-Astarte, derived from Carthage's origins in Phoenicia (for a fine example of this bonnet worn by a Phrygian - Attis - see the Kyzikene hemihekte below, lot 159). Yet whoever she is, she is certainly domiciled in North Africa: while the lion might be Kybele's, and the palm tree could be from many places, combined with the goddess's curling hair, we simply have to see her as a true Carthaginian.

Online bidding closes: 22 Jun 2021, 10:00:00 CEST Current Date & Time: 29 Mar 2024, 16:04:36 CET Remaining Time: Closed Hammer Price:32000 CHF

Pre-Bidding closes on 22 Juni 2021 at 10:00 CEST. Live bidding starts at 14:00 CET and is EXCLUSIVELY available on biddr. Separate registration is required.

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