Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 809. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $1650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SATRAPS of CARIA. Hekatomnos. Circa 392/1-377/6 BC. AR Stater (12.25 g). Milesian standard. Forepart of roaring lion left; [E]KA above / Stellate pattern in circular incuse. Hecatomnus -; Traité II 84; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG Kayhan -; SNG von Aulock 2355 = Jameson 1563. Near VF, toned, minor porosity, struck with worn dies. Very rare, fewer than 20 specimen known.

As part of the Achaemenid Empire, Caria in the fourth century BC was under the rule of a family of semi-independent satraps know as the Hekatomnids, after the dynasty's founder, Hekatomnos. Born in Mylasa, Hekatomnos was appointed satrap of Caria by Artaxerxes II after the fall of Tissaphernes, with orders that he provide forces which would assist the Great King in his recovery of the island of Cyprus. According to Diodorus Siculus (14.98) Hekatomnos was placed command of the fleet for this operation. Though there exists some doubt about Hekatomnos' loyalty to the Achaemenids, such doubts did not prevent him being given control of Miletos, one of the most important Ionian cities, certainly his in 386 BC under the terms of the King's Peace. The clear Milesian influence on his coins suggests that Hekatomnos struck these coins there. Interested in Hellenic culture (though, possibly hedging his diplomatic bets), Hekatomnos sent his youngest son Pixodaros to Athens as part of a deputation; his older son was bound by xenia, or guest friendship, with Agesilaus, king of Sparta. When he died in 377 BC, Hekatomnos' son Maussollos succeeded him, soon in turn to be followed by Hekatomnos' other sons, Hidreus and Pixodaros.

Koray Konuk is presently preparing his Ph.D. dissertation, a detailed analysis of the coins of the Hekatomnids, for a forthcoming RNS publication, "The Coinage of the Hekatomnids in Caria."