Live auction - bgr_474630 - CRETE - GORTYNA Drachme

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Estimate :	780 €
Price :	480 €
Maximum bid :	500 €
End of the sale :	05 June 2018 14:11:54
bidders :	1 bidder

Type : Drachme

Date: c. 150-67 AC.

Mint name / Town : Gortyne, Crète

Metal : silver

Diameter : 21 mm

Orientation dies : 12 h.

Weight : 3,14 g.

Rarity : R1

Coments on the condition:

Exemplaire sur un flan large ovale et irrégulier. Belle tête au droit avec des traces de surfrappe bien perceptibles. Revers de style fin. Patine de collection ancienne

Catalogue references :

BMC.55 var. - GC.3186 var. - Sv.145 pl. 16/10

Obverse

Obverse legend : ANÉPIGRAPHE.

Obverse description : Tête barbue et diadémée de Zeus ou de Minos à droite.

Reverse

Reverse description : Héro (Gortys) nu debout à gauche, tourné de face, tenant de la main droite un bouclier et de la gauche, une javeline transversale ; grènetis circulaire.

Reverse legend : GORTU/ NIWN.

Reverse translation : (de Gortyne).

Commentary

Trace de surfrappe au droit bien visible sous la tête avec peut-être une trace de légende et du type antérieur du revers. Un seul exemplaire signalé dans l’ouvrage de Svoronos, Numismatique de la Crète ancienne, celui du musée de Vienne.

Historical background

CRETE - GORTYNA

(2nd - 1st century BC)

Gortyn, the second city of Crete, is in the center of the fertile Mesara plain. Its coinage begins around 450 BC. It alludes to the abduction of Europa by Zeus, transformed in this case into a bull to escape the jealousy of Hera and conquer the nymph of which he had, among other , Minos. After a brilliant period of economic development in the 4th and 3rd centuries, the island of Crete fell under Lagide influence. Economic stake for two centuries in the Eastern Mediterranean, victim of acts of piracy, after a long period of political decadence, Gortyne was taken by the Romans during the invasion of Crete in 67-66 BC.