Relating to the Isthmian Games

Sale: CNG 78, Lot: 1231. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2008.  Sold For $420. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CORINTHIA, Corinth. Pseudo-autonomous issue. Reign of Domitian, AD 81-96. Æ 16mm (4.21 g, 8h). Isthmian Games issue. Head of Poseidon right, wearing taenia; trident over shoulder / Event: ὁ ὁπλιτοιδρόμος - contestant in armor standing left, extending hand and holding shield. RPC 210; Amandry Séries anonymes L7 (D4/R4); BCD Korinth 569 (this coin). VF, green patina.

From the collection of Maj. Anthony F. Milavic, USMC (Ret.).

See A. Milavic, “Hoplitodromos: The Hoplite Race in Armor,” The Celator 5, 8 (August 1991), pp. 6-13, for a discussion of this interesting type. The Isthmian games are believed to have been initiated in honor of the death of Melicertes, as known as Palaemon, who drowned along with his mother Ino after she threw herself into sea while still cradling him in her arms. Palaemon was deified and carried to the shore by a dolphin, leading to the discovery of his body and commemoration at Corinth.