Medaglioni e miti

[apollonia]

Medaglione di Valeriano I (Sardi, Lidia) che raffigura sul rovescio Demetra, con velo svolazzante e torcia in ciascuna mano, in piedi su biga trainata verso destra da serpenti alati (CNG 79).

Rare Medallion

LYDIA, Sardis. Valerian I. AD 253-260. Æ Medallion - 46mm (42.11 g, 6h). Domitius Rufus asiarch and son of the second asiarch. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Demeter, with billowing veil and holding torch in each hand, standing in biga drawn right by winged serpents. LS -; SNG München -; BMC 206. Good VF, green patina. Very rare.

Among the most ancient of the deities in the Olympian pantheon and with connections to a pre-Hellenic mother earth goddess, Demeter remained connected with fertility in Classical myth as the goddess of grain and crops. According to the Homeric Hymn addressed to her, Demeter, in her day and night search for her abducted daughter Persephone, eventually arrived at Eleusis. In return for the hospitality she received from its king, Celeus, Demeter instructed his son, Triptolemus, in the ways of agriculture. Having received this knowledge, he taught it to the rest of Greece, traveling from place to place in a chariot drawn by flying serpents, chthonic deities connected to Demeter’s ancient past.

Sale: CNG 79, 17 September 2008, Lot: 606. Estimate $5000. Sold For $8300

[apollonia]

Medaglione commemorativo (CNG 70).

COMMEMORATIVE SERIES. 337-354 AD. Æ Medallion (32mm, 19.12 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck 340-350 AD. Draped bust of Roma left, wearing laureate crested helmet and necklace / Wolf to left, suckling Romulus and Remus; two stars above. RIC VII 349; RIC VIII 391; F. Ntantalia, Bronzemedallions unter Konstantin dem grossen und seinen söhnen, Series C, 106 (V77/R72); J.P.C. Kent, "Urbs Roma and Constantinopolis Medallions at the mint of Rome," Essays Sutherland, 19; Gnecchi 6. VF, brown patina, minor roughness, obverse smoothed. Very rare. ($1000)

On 11 May 330 AD, Constantine dedicated Constantinople as the new eastern capital of the Roman Empire. To mark the event, a sizeable output of coins were minted in many of the imperial mints. Included were medallions struck at Rome (lot 1067) depicting Roma or Constantinopolis on the obverse and various mythological reverses types proclaiming Constantine’s foundation of a new capital and dynasty, while associating this capital with Rome’s traditional seat of power, and legitimizing his dynasty through its connection to Rome’s mythological past. A second, smaller bronze medallion (lot 1069) was struck to commemorate a short-lived truce between Constantine’s successors, Constans, who ruled the western portion of the empire, and Constantius II, who ruled the eastern portion.

 

Sale: CNG 70, 21 September 2005, Lot: 1067. Estimate $1000. Sold For $1100

 

Modificato 27 Dicembre, 2020 da apollonia

[apollonia]

Medaglione di Cizico (Misia) con il busto drappeggiato di Kore Soteira sul diritto e sul rovescio un tempio cilindrico con la porta centrale chiusa, sormontato da tre donne che reggono delle torce; torce accese con un serpente attorcigliato su entrambi i lati (CNG 70).

MYSIA, Cyzicus. Autonomous. Late 2nd century AD. Æ Medallion (42mm, 37.70 g, 7h). Draped bust of Kore Soteira right, wearing grain ear wreath / Cylindrical temple with closed central door, surmounted by three females holding torches; lighted serpent-entwined torches on either side. Von Fritze III, 6f; SNG France 564 (same dies); SNG Copenhagen -. VF, orichalcum surfaces, areas of minor porosity. A very rare and noteworthy architectural type. ($2500).

Ex The New York Sale VII (15 January 2004), lot 216; Münzen und Medaillen Deutschland 11 (7 November 2002), lot 52; Sternberg XI (20-21 November 1981), lot 259.

CNG 70, 21 September 2005, Lot: 549. Estimate $2500. Sold For $2400. 

[apollonia]

Mitologia

Come Eleusi nella Grecia centrale, anche Cizico era un centro importante per il culto di Persefone. Tra le divinità più antiche del pantheon olimpico e con legami con una dea madre terra pre-ellenica, lei era, nella sua incarnazione come Kore, la fanciulla nubile, strettamente associata a Demetra, o Deo, la donna matrona e madre. Successivamente adattata per creare la coppia madre-figlia e incorporata nella mitologia classica tradizionale, Demetra rimase legata alla fertilità, in particolare a quella della terra, mentre Persefone divenne la regina degli Inferi e la cui parte nei Misteri Eleusini offriva la speranza della vita dopo la morte.

Nella versione orfica della storia, che sembra essere la fonte del medaglione del post precedente, il rapitore di Persefone era nei panni di Zeus, che l'ha rapita travestita da serpente. Da questa unione è nato Dionisio-Zagreo. Su istigazione di Era, i Titani fecero a pezzi la bambina, travestita da bue, e ne consumarono la carne. Cacciandoli via, Zeus recuperò il cuore che batteva ancora e incorporò in sè stesso, oppure lo diede in pasto a Semele. Questi ultimi elementi collegarono Zagreus a Dioniso, poiché entrambi erano legati alla rigenerazione e avevano dei misteri a loro volta. Sofocle (P. 94), chiamava Dioniso "Iacchos con le corna" e secondo Ateneo (Deipnosophistae 2) una statua di Dioniso a forma di toro si trovava a Cizico, forse sul terreno del complesso del tempio.

[apollonia]

Medaglione di Caracalla con tempio di Zeus sul rovescio (The Coin Shop CNG 563035).

Triple Temple Reverse

MYSIA, Pergamum. Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ Medallion (43mm, 39.81 g, 6h). M. Kairel(ios) Attalos, strategos. Struck AD 214. AYTKPAT K MAPKOC AYΡ ANTΩNЄINOC, laureate and cuirassed bust right; gorgoneion on breastplate / ЄΠI CTP M KAIPЄΛ/ATT AΛO/V above, ΠЄ/PΓA/MHN/ΩN in three lines in central field, ΠPΩTΩN Γ NЄ/ΩKOPΩN in two lines in exergue, three tetrastyle temples; two seen in perspective facing left and right; upper one, containing statue of Zeus Aetophorus seated left, seen from front; AN in pediment; clippeus in pediments of left and right temples. Von Fritze, Pergamon, p. 85 and pl. VIII, 16 (only rev. illustrated – same die); SNG BN 2229 var. (legend breaks); SNG Leypold –; SNG von Aulock 1411-2 var. (same); BMC 37 and pl. XXXII, 1 (same dies). Red-brown and black-green patina, some light smoothing, two small scrapes on reverse. VF. Very rare.

Caracalla’s eastern tour of AD 214 included stops at several healing shrines, where he sought a cure for a chronic malady of an unknown nature, which his ancient biographers attributed to either hypochondria or guilt and anxiety over his murder of his brother, Geta. This impressive medallion of Pergamum commemorates one such visit to the famous temple of Asklepios in that city, extant since the second century BC. The reverse depicts three temples; the two flanking structures, shown in perspective, have been identified as temples for the deified emperors Augustus and Trajan. The raised central temple, with a figure of Asklepios shown within, is inscribed AN on the pediment, surely for Antonininus, Caracalla’s official name. The meaning of this is unclear, but it suggests the venerable temple of Asklepios has also been made into a shrine to the emperor’s own divinity.

[apollonia]

Medaglione di Commodo legato a un mito locale o una pratica di culto di Cizico (CNG 351).

Enigmatic Medallic Type

MYSIA, Cyzicus. Commodus. AD 177-192. Æ Medallion (41mm, 35.04 g, 12h). Struck circa AD 191-192. AV KAI [Λ] M AV KOMMOΔ[O]C AN[T CЄB ЄVC ЄVT POMAIOC HP]AKΛHC, laureate bust right, with lion’s skin tied around neck, club over shoulder / NЄ-O[K]O-[PΩN] KVZIKHNΩ[N], two large baskets containing branches and set on tall stands, each being raised by three men holding supports; two additional men standing on supports, two altars or bases before baskets, star-in-crescent above each basket. Unpublished in the standard references, but see RPC Online temp. no. 9689 for a similar piece in Vienna. For the same obverse die, see SNG Henterian 1213. Fine, rough brown surfaces, pierced. Extremely rare and possibly unique. A highly interesting type.

This type cannot be adequately explained, but must refer to some local myth or cult practice. The Vienna piece shares the same reverse scene but is smaller and must be earlier in date, with a younger portrait shown laureate, draped, and cuirassed.

CNG 351, Lot: 496. Estimate $300. Sold for $800.