ARGOLIS

Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 2390. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $1000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARGOLIS, Argos. Circa 500/490-470 BC. AR Triobol (2.65 g, 12h). Forepart of wolf at bay left, feet on small basis of pellets within linear border / Large A; two small incuse squares above; all within shallow square incuse. BCD Peloponnesos 1004. VF, toned. Extremely rare.

Ex BCD Collection (not in LHS sale).

A territory mainly triangular in shape, Argolis was the location of the Bronze Age fortresses of Mycenae and Tiryns, as well as Agamemnon’s Mycenaean kingdom in the Iliad. Occasionally, the name of one of its most famous cities, Argos (the plain), is applied to the whole of the Peloponnese or even the whole of Greece itself. Epidauros, another of Argolis’ famous cities, is reputed to be the birthplace of Asklepios, the god of healing, where the Asklepieion was dedicated to him. These large cities, along with numerous others in Argolis, were active in the production of coinage during the 4th through 2nd centuries BC. As with other Greek territories brought under the control of the Romans, autonomous coinage decreased and was later replaced by provincial issues mostly after the 1st century AD.