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The data below is presented by permission of the copyright holder(s). Reproduction is allowed only by authorization from Leu Numismatik AG (1992-2005).
Important copyright information:
The data below is presented by permission of the copyright holder(s). Reproduction is allowed only by authorization from Leu Numismatik AG (1992-2005).
| Leu Numismatik AG (1992-2005) > Auction 90 | Auction date: 10 May 2004 |
| Lot number: 321 | |
| Lot description: THE COINAGE OF OLYMPIA The Roman Provincial Coinage of Elis - Olympia Estimate: CHF 1'250.00 4 Assaria (AE, 31 mm, 24.04 g 9),134, by the Alpheios Master. As last, from the same obverse die. Rev. [] The river-god Alpheios (with features of Antinoos) reclining on waves of water to left, holding a wreath in his right hand and reeds in his left; to left amphora. F. Imhoof-Blumer, Fluss- und Meergötter auf griechischen und römischen Münzen, SNR XXIII (1923), p. 254, 204, and pl. VII, 13 = LIMC I, sv. Alpheios 2 and 4 = Seltman 1948, 3 = Franke 33 (all illustrating the same coin ex Rhoussopoulos and now in Berlin). NCP p. 71, 1. Extremely rare, the only example not in a museum (either in Berlin or in Olympia). Black patina. Fine. The figure of Alpheios on the reverse of this coin is a close adaptation of the 5th century BC figure of the river god who appears on the east pediment of the Zeus Temple in Olympia (LIMC I, sv. Alpheios 8), but by giving him the head of Antinoos the artist has created an altogether more interesting image. Antinoos, Hadrian’s lover who drowned in the Nile in 130, is shown as an ideal youth, lying above the waves, symbolizing both his death and his post-mortem honors as a quasi-divine hero. |  |
