Sale: CNG 66, Lot: 1075. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2004.  Sold For $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IONIA, Ephesus. Gordian III. 238-244 AD. Æ 38mm (25.75 gm). Homonoia with Alexandria in Egypt. Laureate and cuirassed bust right / Androclus standing right, holding sceptre, boar's head at feet, clasping hands with Alexander the Great standing left, holding sceptre, altar at feet. Franke & Nollé 545 (dies P/53; two specimens recorded); SNG Copenhagen -. VF, encrusted brown patina. Rare. ($500)

According to Pausanias, Strabo, and Athenaeus, Ephesus was founded by Androclus, one of the sons of Codrus, king of Athens. Androclus and his followers had been told by an oracle to settle in a place which would be indicated to them by a fish and a boar. On arriving at the older site of Ephesus, the Greeks found some of the local people roasting fish near the sea-shore. One of the fish fell from the fire and, as it had pieces of burning wood attached to it, set a nearby thicket ablaze. This disturbed a wild boar, which was chased and slain by Androclus (hence the boar on the present coin). The new settlers intermarried with the indigenous Carian and Lydian population, adopted their customs and practices, and harmonized their religious beliefs, identifying their great Anatolian Mother Goddess Cybele with the Greek Artemis, who thus became a goddess with a dual nature.

The temple and sanctuary of Artemis, also known as the Artemisium, was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is outside of the city of Lysimachus near the modern town of Selçuk. The archaic Artemision, which burned down in 356 BC, was rebuilt shortly afterwards. The cult of Artemis attracted worshippers from all over the Greek world, and this cult and the insuing wealth it generated led to many cities seeking homonoia, or alliance agreements, with Ephesus. The temple housed the many-breasted cult-statue of Artemis Ephesia, known only from Hellenistic and Roman copies and coins, whose cult featured in the celebrated incident during the second missionary visit of St. Paul (Acts 19:17).

This fascinating coin records an alliance, or joint festival, of Ephesos and Alexandria, with the founders of the cities, Androclus and Alexander the Great greeting each other in harmony. The homonoia coin series, and a number of objects of Egyptian provenance found in Ephesus, all suggest that there was a sizeable colony of Egyptian traders and visitors in the city.