Zeus Ascraeus

CNG 90, Lot: 1027. Estimate $1000. Sold for $2500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CARIA, Halicarnassus. Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. Æ (30mm, 14.72 g, 12h). Stratokles, archon. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Cult statue of Zeus Ascraeus facing between two trees, each surmounted by an oracular crow; name in two lines in exergue. Karl -; SNG München -; SNG von Aulock 2534 (same obv. die); BMC 88. Good VF, dark green patina with traces of orange earthen overtones.

From Group CEM.

The epithet Asrcaeus (Gr. Ἀσκραίος) refers to a species of oak tree (Hesychius s.v. ἄσκρα). While the oak was an associated attribute of Zeus, the reference here may refer to a Prehellenic Carian nature deity, similar to the later mythological Dryads, or nymphs who inhabited the trees (δρύες). Apollonius Dyscolus (Historia mirabilium 13) states that a goat was sacrificed to him.