| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 146 | Auction date: 8 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 2082 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Messana. Tetradrachm circa 420-413, AR 28 mm, 17.13 g. ΜΕΣΣΑΝΑ Slow biga of mules driven r. by charioteer, holding reins and kentron; in exergue, two dolphins swimming snout to snout. Rev. Youthful Pan seated l. on rock on which a fawn's skin is thrown, holding a pedum in his l. hand and a springing hare in his r.; in upper field, ΠΑΝ. de Luynes 1022 (these dies). Rizzo pl. XXVI, 12 (these dies). Caccamo Caltabiano 508.1 (this coin). Of the highest rarity, the finest of only five specimens known of which only two are in private hands. A fascinating issue of great interest struck on excellent metal and on a very broad flan. Light iridescent tone and extremely fine Ex Leu 2, 1972, 90; Leu 61, 1995, 62 and NAC 82, 2015, M.L., 44 sales. Arguably the most inventive coin in the long series of coins at Messana, this tetradrachm is also confirmation of the local worship of Pan. The god is shown in his natural element, seated upon a rock over which is draped a fawn skin. He was charged with the protection of shepherds, flocks and hunters and he concerned himself with hares, small birds and similar creatures. In this delightful scene Pan plays with his animal familiar, the hare, while in his left hand he holds the pedum, a throwing-stick used to kill hares. It thus portrays the dualistic relationship that this pastoral god had with the hare: he welcomes it with one hand while in the other he holds a weapon designed to subdue it. Messana originally was colonised by settlers from Cumae and Euboea who named the city Zancle. It prospered for more than two centuries before in 490/89 it was captured by Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegium, a Greek colony on the Italian shore across the Straits of Messina. Since Anaxilas was of Messenian descent, he changed the city's name from Zancle to Messana, and populated it with new arrivals from Messenia and Samos. He is credited with introducing the hare to Sicily, and he probably introduced the worship of Pan, a god native to Arcadia, a neighbouring district of his own Messina in the Peloponnesus. The local worship of Pan is amply demonstrated by the fact that the standard reverse type of the city's tetradrachms is a leaping hare. We get a more intense declaration with this remarkable and short-lived coin type, and also by the appearance of the head of Pan beneath the bounding hare on one of the more frequently encountered tetradrachms Estimate: 100000 CHF |  |
