ISLANDS off CARIA, Rhodos. Rhodes. Late 1st century BC-mid 1st century AD. Æ Drachm (35mm, 20.51 g, 12h). Zenon, tamias. VF.

Keystone 17 – The W. Toliver Besson Collection
Lot: 124. Estimated: $ 500

Roman Provincial, Bronze

Sold For $ 3 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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ISLANDS off CARIA, Rhodos. Rhodes. Late 1st century BC-mid 1st century AD. Æ Drachm (35mm, 20.51 g, 12h). Zenon, tamias. Radiate head of Helios facing slightly left / Full-blown rose within oak wreath; ZHNΩN below rose. Ashton, Early 97 var. (Helios’ facing slightly right); RPC I, p. 454-5 (for discussion of series); SNG Keckman –; BMC 343 var. (same). Dark green patina with earthen highlights, slight roughness. VF. Rare.

From the W. Toliver Besson Collection, purchased from Pegasi Numismatics, February 2013. Ex Banca Italiana di Sconto Collection (Part II, Santamaria, 27 March 1928), lot 264.

According to Pindar (Ol. 7.13-17), the island Rhodos was said to be born of the union of Helios, the sun god, and the nymph Rhode. Dating from the time of the arrival of the Minoans in the 16th century BC, Rhodos is steeped in early history. By the third century BC, the city of Rhodes had formed strong cultural and political ties with the Ptolemies in Alexandria, and the Rhodo-Egyptian alliance controlled much of the Aegean trade. Macedonian armies under Demetrios I Poliorcetes laid siege to Rhodes in 305 BC, in an attempt to break up this alliance. Demetrios sued for peace a year later, leaving a massive store of military equipment which the Rhodians sold, using the proceeds to build a statue to their sun god Helios. This statue is now known as the Colossus of Rhodes. The Colossus, one of the Ancient Wonders of the World was toppled in a massive earthquake in 226 BC, and its remains lay on the ground for over 800 years (Strabo 14.2.5) before being sold as scrap following the Arab Conquest in AD 654 (Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, De administrando imperio XX-XXI).

Closing Date and Time: 22 July 2026 at 10:41:00 ET.



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