GRÈCE ANTIQUE Lot n° 4

Chersonese, Panticapaea. Gold statere c. 340-325 B.C., Panticapaea. B.C. Head of Pan left, crowned with ivy. Rv. PAN. Griffin to left holding javelin in mouth, and on an ear of wheat serving as exergue. Anokhin 1021 - MacDonald, Bo.21/54 - SNG Stancomb 547 - Hoover HGC.7-20 Gold - 9,08 g - 19,6 mm - 12 h From a sale Hess-Leu 45, 1970 n° 93 and Bank Leu AG 33, Zurich, May 3, 1983 n° 259. Minor bumps on the edge, scratches above the head but a superb and high relief example for this type always sought after. The Black Sea was a capital territory for the Greek colonization of the Mimesians and others, interested by the flourishing agriculture of this region but also by the gold resources. This precious metal inspired Herodotus with the myth of the fight of the fabulous Arimaspes against the griffins, guardians of the gold they extracted from the earth, on the borders of the known world. These statues of Panticapaeus take up the myth of the griffin, with the head of a horned lion, holding an ear of wheat as if to allude to the two main resources of this region. On the right, Pan, with pointed ears, has a crown of vine leaves or ivy, in a remarkable syncretism between Greek art and the more barbaric Scythian art.