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Coin ID #14665

Kyzikos (BC 460-400) EL 1/6 Stater

ca 460-400 BC. EL Hekte (2.60g, 10mm). Head of Attis (Atys) facing right, wearing Phyrgian cap [below tuna right?] / Quadripartite incuse square. nEF. Carr coll.

Known type for a stater (at least 10 sold at auction, see Coin ID #9333 and #6817), hekte (1/6th Stater) (at least 12 sold at auction, see Coin ID #9330 and #9332), hemihekte (1/12th Stater) (at least 9 sold at auction, see Coin ID #9329) and Myshemihekte (1/24th Stater) (at least 6 sold at auction, see Coin ID #11022). In some instances, it appears that the die for the stater was used on hekte and, as such, the tuna is off the flan. This example is from an unknown die. In some cases, Attis is wearing a conspicuously jeweled Phyrgian cap (see Coin ID #9332) and in others, the jewels are less conspicuous or absent.

File information
Filename:Carr_G56.jpg
City/Mint name:Kyzikos EL
Keywords:classical / electrum
References:Greenwell 56, pl III, 5; Von Fritze I 142 and pl. IV, 28; SNG France 291; Von Aulock -; Boston MFA 1521; Gulbenkian 644.
Valuation:Numismatik Naumann 66 (6/2018), lot 158 [EUR 650 ($761) + comm]
Photo courtesy of:Numismatik Naumann - www.numismatik-naumann.at
Filesize:263 KiB
Date added:Jun 05, 2018
Dimensions:1300 x 654 pixels
Displayed:513 times
URL:http://www.asiaminorcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=14665
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Adrian   [Jun 08, 2018 at 04:54 PM]
In Greek mythology, Attis was a vegetation god, associated with a spring festival of death and resurrection which started in Phrygia where he was the young consult of the goddess Cybele. His self-mutilation, death and resurrection is representative of the fruits of the earth that die in winter and arise again in spring. William Greenwell, in his 1887 tome entitled: "The electrum coinage of Cyzicus", notes that the cult associated with this god in around 1250 BC, but uses the spelling "Atys" instead of "Attis“ hence the reference in the header file description. Some modern scholars are now suggesting that the 19th-century identification of Attis with the name Atys, noted in Herodotus, is in fact a mistaken identification. They suggest the reference is to Atys the son of Manes, the second king of the Maeonians (Lydians) and father of Lydus.

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