LOKRIS, Lokri Opuntii. Circa 360-350 BC. AR Stater (23mm, 12.21 g, 12h). Head of Persephone left, wearing wreath of grain ears, triple-pendant earring, and pearl necklace / Ajax, nude but for crested Corinthian helmet, holding sword in right hand, shield decorated with coiled serpent on left arm, advancing right on rocks; OΠON-TIΩN to left, broken spear below. H&D Group 10, 101 (O16/R27); BCD Lokris 42 (same dies); HGC 4, 990; BMC 14 (same dies); Gulbenkian 489 (same dies). Lightly toned, with some iridescence on the obverse, underlying luster, a few hairlines, minor doubling on obverse. Near EF. Well centered.
Ex MACM inventory MMoCA3C; Nomos FPL (with Classical Numismatic Group; Winter/Spring 2010), no. 56.
Ajax the Lesser, depicted on the reverse of this attractive stater, hailed from Lokri Opuntii and led a flotilla of 40 ships during the Trojan War. Upon Troy's fall, he was alleged by Odysseus to have violated a sanctuary of Athena by ravishing Cassandra, thus bringing the wrath of Athena down upon himself and his countrymen. Ajax himself perished on the return voyage, and the rest of the Opuntians reached home only with great difficulty. Nevertheless, they annually honored their former leader by launching a ship fitted with black sails and laden with gifts, which was then set alight.
