Nomos 7

MYSIA, Lampsakos. Circa 394-350 BC. Stater (Gold, 8.45 g 4). Head of the hunter Actaeon to left, with stag’s horn above his forehead. Rev. Forepart of Pegsos to right within shallow incuse square. Baldwin, Lampsakos 33b-c, pl. III, 15-16 (same obverse die). Gulbenkian 694. SNG France1145. Extremely rare. A spectacular coin of great beauty. Minor marks on the reverse, otherwise, good extremely fine.

From the Mieza collection, ex Nomos 3, 10 May 2011, 110 and Gemini IV, 8 January 2008, 149.

Actaeon was a famous hunter who learnt his skills from the centaur Chiron. It seems that one day he accidentally came upon Artemis bathing: she was so angered by him seeing her naked that she transformed him into a stag and he was set upon and torn to pieces by his own hunting dogs. Her we see the start of the transformation process, with the horn just coming out of his head. This later became a favorite scene for a variety of Renaissance and Baroque painters since it allowed the depiction of an often considerable number of nude bathing women (more serious paintings of this event had appeared on Attic black and red figured pottery of the 6th and 5th cenuries BC).