The Labyrinth at Cnossus

425, Lot: 297. Estimate $200. Sold for $1600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CRETE, Cnossus. Augustus. 27 BC-AD 14. Æ (20mm, 5.30 g, 6h). C. Petronius and M. Antonius, duoviri. Bare head right / Labyrinth. Svoronos, Numismatique 189; RPC I 977. Fine, even brown surfaces, a few scratches on obverse. Clear design of labyrinth.

From the WRG Collection, purchased from William Porter, September 1991.

According to myth, the Labyrinth at Cnossus was built during the reign of King Minos in order to hold the Minotaur, a grotesque creature with the head of a bull and body of a man. A regular sacrifice of seven youthful Athenian men and seven maidens was required to assuage the Minotaur. Theseus, prince of Athens, volunteered to go to Crete as a sacrificial victim, promising his father, King Aegeus, that he would slay the creature and free the Athenians of their sorrowful obligation. Theseus did just that and, with the help of the Cretan princess, Ariadne, who fell in love with Theseus, the prince was able to successfully navigate out of the dreadful Labyrinth.