Sale: CNG 66, Lot: 1062. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2004.  Sold For $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BITHYNIA, Nicaea. Marcus Aurelius. 161-180 AD. Æ 28mm (15.63 gm). Heracles and the Erymanthian boar. AVT K M AVP ANTWNEINOC, bare-headed, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / TON KTICTH NIKAIEIC, nude Heracles seen from behind, carrying off the Erymanthian boar; club by his side, star to right. Waddington, RG -; BMC Pontus -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -; Weiser -; Stoll -;Voegtli -. VF, dark green patina, scratches. Rare representation of a Labor of Heracles. Apparently unpublished. ($1000)

The canonical representation of the fourth labor of Heracles, the capture of the Erymanthean Boar, in sculpture, painting, and coins shows the hero carrying his prize "piggy-back" over his shoulder, sometimes in the act of surprising Eurystheos with it, who hides in a pithos in fright. The present, apparently unpublished piece, has the hero, labeled "The Founder of the Nicaeans," carrying the beast in front of him. There seems to be only one numismatic parallel for this depiction: a medallion of Commodus (Gnecchi 34; Stoll 103), where Heracles is seen in a similar stance, but with the boar on a rock in front of him and the Nemean Lion behind. On this medallion the scene could be interpreted to show Heracles carrying the boar to the rock. The striking similarity of these two unrelated numismatic specimens implies that this particular scene was taken from a sculptural group or painting showing this version of the legend.