Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 986. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $6500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Pergamum. Septimius Severus, with Julia Domna . 193-211 AD. Æ Medallion (44mm, 44.06 gm, 6h). Claudianus Terpander, strategus. AVT KAI L CEP CEOVHPOC PER IOU DOMNA CEBACTH, confronted busts of Severus, laureate, draped and cuirassed right, and Domna, draped, left; c/m: laureate head of Caracalla right / EPI CTPA KLAUDIANOU TERPANDROU PERGAMHNWN B NEWKORWN, Ariadne, forlorn in the grotto on Naxos, being discovered by a maenad with thyrsus and diadem and a satyr with logobolon. For coin: SNG France 2210; SNG Copenhagen -; cf. BMC Mysia p. 152, 314; for c/m: Howgego 70. Good VF, dark black-green patina, slight smoothing. Spectacular mythological type. Very rare. ($7500)

Ariadne, the daughter of Minos of Crete, fell in love with the Athenian hero Theseus and helped him defeat the Minotaur and free the Athenian captives from the Labyrinth. She then fled with him from Crete. Upon stopping at Naxos, Theseus abandoned Ariadne, returning to Athens alone. Ariadne was discovered by Dionysus, who made her his wife. Most versions of the tale paint Theseus as a cad, but according to one version Dionysus forced Theseus to desert her because they had profaned his sacred grotto at Naxos. In any case, Ariadne joined the ranks of the divine, bearing many children by Dionysus, and her wedding diadem became the Corona Borealis. Pergamum, with its strong links to Dionysiac cult, celebrates the god's human consort on this impressive medallion.