Tiny unpublished Greek from Kyzikos

This wee little 6.8mm bit of ancient Greek silver seems to be a case of the rare become less and less so as the years go by. In a 2009 auction the type was unpublished in the standard references and "possibly unique". Then earlier this year a second example surfaced in another auction. This very rough and junky one that I picked up while scraping barrels makes for the third known. I would be surprised if there weren't quite a few more waiting to be dug up and/or identified. For now, I'll revel in its relative rarity and obscurity.


MYSIA, Kyzikos
AR Hemiobol
Circa 525 - 475 BC
0.26g, 6.8mm
Apparently unpublished and the third known, cf CNG 213, L151
O: Head of Attis right, wearing Phrygian cap.
R: Quadripartite incuse square.

This type has been attributed to Kyzikos, probably on account of the obverse showing a head wearing the distinctive Phyrgian cap and thought to depict Attis, consort of the great Phrygian mother goddess Cybele. His cult seems to have been that of a fertility and vegetation god in Asia Minor, eventually making its way to Rome when the Republic adopted the worship of Cybele during the Second Punic War.

Attis himself was originally a shepherd born to the virgin demigoddess Nana. He was gifted with beauty breathtaking as to be godlike, so obviously not like what you see represented on my coin and probably more like an Antinous-Ryan Gosling mashup. Or, well, maybe just more like this...



In any case, Attis was so beautiful that even the goddess Cybele fell in love with him. Alas, he was betrothed to the daughter of the King of Pessinos. When the jealous goddess appeared before him on his wedding day, Attis was struck temporarily mad by her divine presence. In a frenzied state, he ran away and castrated himself under a pine tree, bleeding to death. A somewhat remorseful Cybele ordained that his body should never decay. An interesting story for those who like romances, then.

Post your Greek coins of Kyzikos, or coins showing Attis or Cybele or Antinous or Ryan Gosling!

 

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How cool is that! Nice research, Z. Bizarre "love story" .

Alas, I have no Kyzikos, Attis, Cybele, Antinous, or Gosling coins to share. Antinous has been on my hit list for a year though.

 

I kinda can't wait to see that Antinous I'm sure you'll eventually get .

 

It may be a while. I do like his Alexandrians best but they are pretty expensive and there are so many other coins on the list.

 

Sheesh. Get a room.

 

Just showed this:

MYSIA AR Hemiobol
OBVERSE: Forepart of running boar left, tunny fish behind upward
REVERSE: Head of roaring lion left within incuse square, star above Struck at Kyzikos, 480-450BC
0.41 g, 9.5 mm
Sear 3850


M. VOLTEIUS M.F. ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS VOLTEIA AR Fouree Denarius
OBVERSE: Laureate & helmeted bust of Attis right; shield behind REVERSE: Cybele seated right in chariot drawn by two lions; OQ above Rome 78BC
2.9g, 18mm
Cr385/4; Syd 777, Volteia 4


C FABIUS CF HADRIANUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS FABIA Fourree Denarius
OBVERSE: EX•A•PV behind veiled & turreted bust of Cybele right REVERSE: C•FABI•C•F, victory in biga right; stork below Struck at Rome 102 BC
3.28g, 20mm
Crawford 32


P. FURIUS CRASSIPES ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS FURIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: Turreted head of Cybele (Tyche) right, behind, foot pointing upwards, AED.CVR behind head
REVERSE: Curule chair inscribed P FOVRIVS; CRASSIPES in exergue
Rome 84 BC
3.88g. 19mm
Cr 356/1c; Syd 735b


FAUSTINA Sr AE Sestertius
OBVERSE: DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right
REVERSE: AVGVSTA. Cybele, wearing polos, seated left, holding drum in right hand and branch in left arm. SC in exergue
Struck at Rome, 141-161 AD
24.1g, 30mm
RIC 1123

 

nice little coin...now that's "old school" Z!

i know i keep posted this thing....

 

I don't blame you. As was pointed out in the other thread, it is a really big tuna...

 

Nice find, Z! As far as Cybele goes, I very much like the Cybele Julia Domna denarius types, but it's a very busy design, and I would want en EF-grade coin, and they don't come cheap.

 

The Domna Cybele type is available in several variations. I assume you mean the seated with lions type. Of course not refusing coins because they are under EF certainly does make them easier to find. My best is the Gordian and it is only VF. I suspect the Domna sestertius in EF would be a budget buster.


Marcianopolis AE 28

Septimius fro Pautalia AE29

Gordian III from Marcianopolis AE 28


http://www.acsearch.info/search.htm...1&ot=1&images=1&currency=usd&order=0&company=

I note that the most expensive of the above appears seven times with different owners or sellers so it appears it is having trouble finding a home. The nicest one seems to have sold once in 2003 and not appeared since suggesting it was the kind of girl you keep for the long haul. Of course not all coin sales make it to the online lists.

 

I like all of the varieties. VF coins would be just fine, actually, as long as they exhibited lions as nice as yours. Frequently that seems to be the detail that's nothing more than an amorphous blob on VF coins.

 

Those are some nice Cybeles, but the Domna sestertius is the one I'd love to have.

 

Very cool new addition, Z-Bro (congrats)

Ummm, I happen to have a couple of examples from Mysia, Kyzios ...

Mysia, Kyzikos, AR Obol
525-475 BC
Boar & Lion (incuse)



Mysia, Kyzikos, AE24
200-100 BC
Diameter: 24 mm
Weight: 5.44 grams
Obverse: KYZI-KHWN to left and right of lit torch
Reverse: Bull butting right




... I haven't shown that second baby for a while

 

I like that one a lot.

 

Funny, because Kyzikos must be the same thing as Cyzicus, eh?

Well, I know from my previous thread that I also have this puppy to toss into the ol' mix ... good ol' Byzzy-Cyzicus!! ("K" for Cyzicus!!?)

 

This happens all the time. Languages use alphabets that include letters that are needed for their words. Greek has a K that sounds like our hard C or K. Latin only uses a K for a few foreign (to them) words but their C is hard like the Greek K. The one that comes to mind is kalends (first day of the month). English has a C and a K with the same sound and an S and a C with the soft sound making you wonder why we need a C at all. Foreign proper names always have a problem when translated. Were you taught in school that there always is a U after a Q? How about Iraq and Qatar? Do you want to make it worse? Greek had a letter Q for KW which began the name of the city we call Corinth and shows the Q on many coins. They dropped the letter before long for most words but the Q remained as the abbreviation for Corinth.

There was a time when English scholars insisted on Latinizing all Greek names. That gave us Cyzicus for Kyzikos. Technically, I see the coin uses a xi rather than zeta so maybe it should be Kyxikos??? Today it is more politically correct to spell Greek things in a Greek manner. I'm OK with that.

 

I don't think I've seen that one of yours before. Nice!

 

huh, really? => well, it's even sweeter "in-hand" my friends (it's cozy) ... man, I love my coins!!



co·zy
ˈkōzē/
adjective

1. 1.
   giving a feeling of comfort, warmth, and relaxation.
   "a cozy cabin tucked away in the trees"
   synonyms: snug, comfortable, warm, homelike, homey, homely, welcoming

 

Kozecuss from Kyzikos?