The Hoplitodromos

CNG 105, Lot: 188. Estimate $3000. Sold for $4750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 450-330 BC. EL Stater (17mm, 15.95 g). Hoplite, nude but for Corinthian helmet, shield on left arm, right arm extended foreward, standing in a semi-crouched stance right on ground line; to right, tunny downward / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze I 119; Greenwell 91; Boston MFA 1497; SNG BN 265 = de Luynes 2452; BMC 78; Gillet –; Gulbenkian 620; Jameson 1404; Myrmekion 17; Rosen –; Weber –. VF, minor edge split.

The hoplite is about to begin the foot race in which the runners carried their military equipment. (See A. Milavic, “Hoplitodromos:The hoplite race in armor served as a vehicle to train for war” in The Celator 5.8 [August 1991].)