177, Lot: 156. Estimate $200. Sold for $181. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Seleucia ad Calycadnus. Macrinus. AD 217-218. Æ 27mm (12.82 g). Laureate and cuirassed bust right; c/m: small o within D / The infant Zeus seated facing on throne surrounded by three Kuretes beating their shields with their swords. For coin: SNG France 990; for c/m: Howgego 670. Fair, rough brown surfaces. Neat mythological type.

Ex Kovacs XV (1 October 2003), lot 263; Marcel Burstein Collection..

The Kuretes share some of the attributes of the Korybantes, dancing divinities associated with the worship of Kybele, but their specific role in Greek mythology was to serve as the protectors of the infant Zeus while he was hidden away on Crete, safe from his murderous father Kronos. Their militant dancing, accompanied by the clashing of swords on shields, drowned out the cries of the infant. The Kuretes dance was later re-enacted by young men at Greek festivals and games, in a display probably very similar to the sword dances practiced by later peoples such as the Cossacks of Russia