Nomos 11

ISLANDS off THRACE, Thasos. Circa 150-140 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 35.5mm, 16.99 g 12). Head of youthful Dionysos to right, wearing ivy wreath. Rev. ΗΡΑΚΛΕΟΥΣ / ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ / ΘΑΣΙΩΝ Herakles, nude but for laurel wreath and lion’s skin over his left shoulder, standing left, holding club with his right hand; to left, Μ. Le Rider 51. Prokopov, Group VI, 88 (VF1/R75). A particularly attractive, toned piece of exuberant style, very well struck on a broad flan. Nearly extremely fine.

During the second half of the 2nd century BC Thasos produced an enormous quantity of tetradrachms showing its patron gods, Dionysos and Herakles. The Thasian issues were, in fact, used by the Roman authorities to pay local auxiliary troops and they became immensely popular in the Balkans, being copied by the local tribes to the north in present-day Bulgaria. As a result the style of the original Thasian issues soon went downhill, often devolving into caricatures (the copies were even more bizarre); thus good style pieces are relatively rare. The present piece, with its wonderful head of Dionysos, is a remarkably appealing example, quite rare thus.