159, Lot: 180. Estimate $100. Sold for $87. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUDAEA, Gaza. Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ 25mm (12.57 g). Dated CY 192 and Epidemia 3 (132 CE). Laureate and draped bust right / GAZA EPI BUP, Tyche standing left, holding sceptre and cornucopiae; lowing heifer standing at feet left; Marnas symbol in right field; dates in legend. Rosenberger 61; SNG ANS 917. VF, sandy green patina.

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection. Ex Coin Galleries (24 February 1984), lot 251.

Hadrian visited Gaza more than once, and it was upon such a visit in 130 AD that an additional reckoning date, that of the epidhmia, or imperial visit. During one such visit, the great temple of Zeus-Marnas may have been founded, as it is first represented on the coins of Hadrian himself. The presence of the heifer, associated in classical mythology with Io, one of Zeus' many lovers and the distant ancestress of Hercules, may refer to an incarnation of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, whom the ancient Philistines, founders of the city, worshipped.