196, Lot: 92. Estimate $100. Sold for $82. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LYDIA, Hypaepa. Plautilla. Augusta, AD 202-205. Æ 24mm (7.12 g, 6h). Draped bust right; c/m: Artemis Anaïtis standing left / Statue of Artemis Anaïtis standing within tetrastyle temple. SNG Copenhagen 199; for c/m: Howgego 233. VF, dark green patina, some minor deposits and roughness.

From the J.S. Wagner Collection.

Artemis Anaïtis was a fusion of the Persian goddess Anahita and the Greek Artemis. Tacitus (Annals 62) refers to the syncretic deity simply as the “Persian Diana”, who had a temple in Lydia “dedicated in the reign in of Cyrus” (presumably Cyrus the Great).