Sale: Triton V, Lot: 1755. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2002.  Sold For $1750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Tarsus. Maximinus I. 235-238 AD. Æ 36mm (23.56 gm). AVT K G IOV OVH MAXIMEINOC, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind; P P across field / The Judgement of Paris: TAPCOV, MHTPOP in exergue, Paris seated left on rock, wearing Phrygian cap and holding apple in right hand and lagobolon in left, facing Aphrodite, nude, standing left, drawing drapery from shoulder, Hera enthroned left, and Athena standing left, resting shield on ground before her and holding spear in left hand; AMK above, B to right. SNG Levante -; SNG Levante suppl. -; SNG France 1587 (same dies); SNG von Aulock -; BMC Lycaonia, etc. pg. 205, 223; Cornell 117 (this coin). VF, brown patina with sandy highlights. ($2000)

From the David Simpson Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Auction XXIV (9 December 1992), lot 497.

Same obverse die as the following lot.

Before the birth of her second son, Hekaba, wife of King Priam of Troy, dreamed that she had brought forth a flaming firebrand that destroyed the city, and the new-born child was therefore exposed on Mount Ida. Brought up by a shepherd, he was called Paris, and later, by his courage, earned the name Alexander or 'defender of men'. He was beloved by the nymph Oenone, but he deserted her as a result of a tempting suggestion by Aphrodite which led to the Judgement of Paris. When Hermes came to Mount Ida with the three goddesses he called Paris and said to him: "Come here and decide which is the more excellent beauty of face, and to the fairer give this apple's lovely fruit." (Colluthus, The Rape of Helen 130). While Paris reflected, the goddesses, who for the occasion had bathed their immortal bodies, offered him bribes in order to win the apple award of beauty: Athena offered him the command of Phrygia and the destruction of Hellas, or as some say, that he would be bravest of mortals and skilled in every craft. Likewise Hera offered him, besides wealth, the dominion over Asia and Europe. But Aphrodite offered him the hand of Helen, whose beauty was famous worldwide, and this bribe won the apple.