191, Lot: 19. Estimate $200. Sold for $260. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. |
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IONIA, Ephesos (as Arsinoeia). Circa 290-281 BC. AR Octobol (18mm, 5.58 g, 1h). Pyrilamp, magistrate. Diademed bust of Artemis right / Bow and quiver; bee right. SNG Copenhagen 257 var. (magistrate); SNG Kayhan 278 var. (same). Fine, porous, heavy reverse scratches, obverse off-center.
Lysimachos became master of Ephesos in 295 BC and shortly thereafter changed the city's name to Arsinoeia in honor of his wife, Arsinoë, the daughter of Ptolemy I Soter. After the death of Lysimachos in 280 BC, Arsinoë married her half brother Ptolemy Keraunos and later her full brother Ptolemy II Philadelphos. She became the first Ptolemaic ruler to enter the Egyptian temples as "temple-sharing goddess," and was revered by the later Ptolemies.