Nomos 9

KYRENAIKA, Kyrene. c. 322-313 BC. Stater (Gold, 18mm, 8.60 g 1), Pheidon. ΦΕΙΔΩΝ[ΟΣ] Male (?) charioteer, wearing long robes and holding a sceptre in his right hand, driving a team of four horses (the horse on the far right is mostly off the flan). Rev. ΚΥΡΑΝΑΙΟΝ Apollo Kitharoidos standing facing, wearing long chiton and laurel wreath, holding kithara in his left hand and pletrum in his right; to left, at his feet, silphium plant; above left, laurel plant. BMC -. Naville -. Apparently unique and unpublished!, an extraodinary and exceptional coin. Some minor marks and an edge bang, otherwise, about extremely fine.

From the Battos Collection.

This coin is decidedly unexpected! The gold coinage of Kyrene has been very carefully studied, both by E.S.G. Robinson in the BMC and by L. Naville in his well known publication of 1951, and the idea that a completely unknown Kyrenaian stater should appear from an old collection is astounding. Not only that, the appearance of Apollo Kitharoidos as its reverse is a further novum since this aspect of the god was also previously unknown on the coinage of Kyrene. The type is very close to the well-known Apollo Barberini in the Glyptothek, which is thought to reflect the cult statue of Apollo from the Temple of Apollo Palatinus in Rome (though this statue was surely based on an earlier Greek prototype).