Ancient Gold

Lot 1978       Ancient Gold

Estimate $6,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au

MYSIA, Cyzicus, fourth period, (400 - 350 B.C.), electrum stater on Phocaic standard (15.73 grams), obverse head of Attis right in Phrygian cap, tunny fish below rev. quadripartite incuse punch mark (cf S. 3840, Von Fritze 142, Greenwell 56). Very fine and very rare.

ex Boston Museum of Fine Arts (catalogue 1521 Warren Collection lot 203), NFA Sale June 6 1980 (lot 203 for US$7500). $$ Attis was the youthful consort of the great Anatolian mother goddess Cybele. The original Phrgian version of his myth (Pausanias vii, 10-12) is decidedly crude, involving the forcible unmanning of his father, incestuous longings and Attis' self-castration, a feature which came to charaterize the priesthood of Cybele. attis was a vegetation god whose death was mourned and annual resurection celebrated, but in Greek times he seems to have shared in the actual worship of the cult of Cybele.