Two Very Rare Early Tarsos Staters

CNG 97, Lot: 266. Estimate $2000. Sold for $4750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Tarsos. Circa 440-420 BC. AR Stater (18mm, 10.43 g, 8h). Male figure (Melkart?) on hippocamp right; waves below / Diety standing left, holding trident; grain ear to left; all in dotted square within incuse square. Casabonne Group C1; SNG France –; SNG Levante 56; SNG Ashmolean 1831 = ACGC 1034 = Celenderis 5a (same dies). VF, toned, slight die shift on obverse. Well struck for issue. Very rare.

The similarity of the obverse type on this issue of Tarsos with that found on early shekels of Tyre has been well noted in previous numismatic works. Colin Kraay, in ACGC, thought that the type was “clearly” related to payments for the Persians’ Phoenician fleet, possibly in connection with its mobilization by Tissaphernes in 411 BC. His analysis, however, was based on an earlier, lower chronology for the issue, which has since been revised upward by Casabonne, making the link to Tissaphernes untenable. While a maritime reference is undeniable for the type, its origin, both at Tarsos and Tyre, is more complex than a simple adoption of the type from one city by the other. Both Casabonne, for Tarsos, and J. & A.G. Elayi, for Tyre, recognize that the type is a local syncretization of a variety of mythological types, most of which predate the Persian dominance over the region. Nevertheless, the type is quite unusual, and this suggests that it may have been adopted by the cities for a similar purpose. Interestingly, the type was only used at Tarsos on this one, rare issue, unlike Tyre, where it was a standard type used for some time. This suggests that the issue at Tarsos had some special purpose, which remains unknown.