Live auction - bgr_777118 - CARIA - CARIAN ISLANDS - RHODES Tétradrachme

CARIA - CARIAN ISLANDS - RHODES Tétradrachme AU

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Estimate :	1 000 €
Price :	520 €
Maximum bid :	551 €
End of the sale :	06 December 2022 14:27:56
bidders :	2 bidders

Type : Tétradrachme

Date: c. 201-190 AC.

Mint name / Town : Rhodes, Carie

Metal : silver

Diameter : 30,5 mm

Orientation dies : 12 h.

Weight : 16,91 g.

Rarity : R1

Coments on the condition:

Très bel exemplaire sur un flan large, idéalement centré. Joli revers, finement détaillé. Beau portrait, bien venu à la frappe. Patine grise avec de légers reflets dorés

Catalogue references :

MP.2512 - M.1156

Obverse

Obverse legend : ANÉPIGRAPHE.

Obverse description : Buste imberbe d'Alexandre le Grand sous les traits d'Héraklès à droite, coiffé de la léonté.

Reverse

Reverse description : Zeus aétophore assis à gauche sur un trône avec dossier, nu jusqu'à la ceinture, les jambes croisées, tenant de la main droite un aigle et de la gauche, un sceptre long ; dans le champ inférieur à gauche, un monogramme et une rose.

Reverse legend : ALECANDROU // RO.

Reverse translation : (d’Alexandre/ de Rhodes).

Historical background

CARIA - CARIAN ISLANDS - RHODES

(3rd - 2nd century BC)

Coinage in the name of Alexander III the Great type

Helios or Apollo was the main deity of Caria and Rhodes. The city, the federal capital, was founded in 408 BC, the date of the beginning of coinage. Rhodes was besieged by Demetrius Poliorcetes in 305 BC It was a failure. The Rhodians thanked the protective god by erecting a statue to him at the entrance to the port. Chares of Lindos built the Colossus of Rhodes between 292 and 284 BC It was one of the seven wonders of the world. 33 meters high, it was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC. An oracle forbade the Rhodians to rebuild it. On the reverse, the rose, in Greek rodion, is a linguistic symbol of the city and makes it possible to attribute this tetradrachm. It is possible that this coinage was made to pay a tribute to Antiochus III who did not use the Rhodian standard, which could explain the relatively short manufacturing time, Rhodes allied with Rome definitively emancipating itself from Seleucid tutelage, after 188 BC.