300, Lot: 430. Estimate $150. Sold for $140. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ROMAN. Provincial. Lot of two (2) bronze coins of Bithynia and Ionia. Includes: BITHYNIA, Nicaea. Maximinus I. AD 235-238. Æ 24mm. Laureate head right; c/m’s: laureate head right and large H / Herakles right, about to slay Hippolyte on fallen horse. RG –; Weiser –; for c/m’s: Howgego 65 and 821 // IONIA, Smyrna. Pseudo-autonomous issue. 2nd-3rd centuries AD. Æ 20mm. Turreted bust of the Amazon Smyrna left, holding labrys over shoulder / Prow right. Klose Series A, Group f. Fine. LOT SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS. Two (2) coins in lot.

At the request of Admete, Eurystheus' daughter, Hercules as his Ninth Labor went to seize the golden girdle of Hippolyte, a garment that gave power and supremacy to the wearer. The daughter of Otrera and the god Ares, Hippolyte was the queen of the Amazons, an all female race who lived near the slopes of the Caucasus. To carry off this Labor, Hercules organized an expedition, which included the Athenian hero Theseus. Upon the heroes’ arrival, the Amazon women greeted them warmly, while Hippolyte offered the girdle as a gift. Hera, on hearing this, took the form of an Amazon, spreading a rumor that Hercules had come to steal away their queen, and take her back with him to Greece. The female warriors, in protection of their queen, began fighting the heroes. In the melée that followed, Hercules slew Hippolyte, thinking she had betrayed him.