Lions of the North

164, Lot: 34. Estimate $750. Sold for $685. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MACEDON, Akanthos. Circa 430-390 BC. AR Tetradrachm (24mm, 13.52 g). Lion right, attacking bull kneeling to left; reversed swastika above, nothing in exergue / AKA-N-QIO-N in shallow incuse around granulated quadripartite square. Desneux -; cf. AMNG III 21; SNG ANS 14 var. (no symbol on obverse). VF, toned, porous and granular.

Akanthos, along with a number of other Thraco-Macedonian cities and tribes, began striking a great quantity of impressive large silver coins at the end of the sixth century BC. The silver mines of Thrace were being exploited as Ionian Greeks established emporia and colonies along the coast. The supply of precious metal proved a spur to increased trade, as well as a source of tribute for the expanding Persian empire, then planting its first footholds in northern Greece. Akanthos, well situated on the Chalcidian isthmus, was itself was a prosperous foundation of settlers from the island of Andros. In the Persian Wars Akanthos greeted the arrival of Xerxes with equanimity, and took a hand in the digging of a canal across the isthmus, so that the Persian fleet could avoid the treacherous waters surrounding the peninsula. Despite this support Xerxes' progress through the region was not entirely peaceful. According to Herodotus, the wild lions of the region played havoc with his supply train, coming in at night to maul his camels. Akanthos took this mighty predator as a symbol of the wild freedom of the northern Greeks, and adopted the image prefectly for a coin composition, neatly fitting together the scene, the arched back of the lion as he pounces on his prey, a bull who rears back in agony.