Theseus and the Minotaur

CNG 88, Lot: 858. Estimate $500. Sold for $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BITHYNIA, Nicomedia. Severus Alexander. AD 222-235. Æ (25mm, 9.96 g, 12h). Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Theseus standing left, head right, holding club and kneeling Minotaur by horns. Voegtli, p. 94; Corsten -; RG -; SNG von Aulock 784 (same dies); J.-P. Righetti Collection (Münzen und Medaillen AG 15), 426 (same dies). Good VF, light green patina, obverse pitted. Extremely rare.

From Group CEM.

Theseus, son of Aegeus, the king of Athens, was known for a number of heroic feats on the model of Hercules. The most famous of these feats was his slaying of the Minotaur. Because the city was a tributary subject to Minos, the king of Crete, it was forced each year to send seven youths and seven maidens to the Cretan capital of Cnossus to feed the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull who lived in the Labyrinth. To liberate Athens from this humiliating tribute, Theseus connived with his father to join the next shipment of youths. Once in Crete, he would slay the Minotaur, free his fellow victims, and return home. If successful, his returning ship would bear a white sail; if not, the sail would remain the black with which he left. With the help of Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, who had developed a passion for him, Theseus entered the Labyrinth and slew the Minotaur. On his return voyage, however, Theseus forgot to replace the black sail, and Aegeus, seeing this, hurled himself in despair into the sea which now is called Aegean.