Third Known

Triton XVIII, Lot: 903. Estimate $10000. Sold for $35000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUDAEA, Gaza. Caracalla. AD 198-217. AR Tetradrachm (25mm, 13.64 g, 2h). Struck AD 215-217. AVT KAI ANT–ωNINOC CЄ, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / ΔHMAPX ЄΞ VΠATOC TO Δ ·, heifer (Io) standing left below symbol of Marnas; all within diadem being supported by eagle standing facing, head and [tail] left, with wings spread, holding wreath in beak. Prieur 1684 corr. (rev. legend) = Bellinger 377, pl. XXVI, 1 corr. (obv. and rev. legends; same dies); Sofaer –. Good VF, lightly toned. Extremely rare, only two cited by Prieur, better than the illustrated specimen.

The heifer refers to Io, a nymph who was seduced by Zeus and transformed into the beast to escape the detection of his wife Hera. Io appears in anthropomorphic form fairly frequently on the bronze coinage of Gaza, although the city’s connection to the myth is unclear.