Lot 3304

Description

Mysia, Kyzikos (Cyzicus), fourth period, (400 - 350 B.C.), electrum stater on Phocaic standard (15.732 grams), obv. head of Attis right in Phrygian cap, tunny fish below, rev. quadripartite incuse punch mark (cf S. 3840, Von Fritze 142, Greenwell 56). Very fine and very rare.

Ex Noble Numismatics Sale 60 (lot 1712) and previously from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (catalogue 1521) and Warren Collection, NFA Sale June 6 1980 (lot 203 for US $7500). Attis was the youthful consort of the great Anatolian mother goddess Cybele. The original Phrygian version of his myth (Pausanias vii, 10-12) is decidedly crude, involving the forcible castration of his father, incestuous longings and Attis' self-castration, a feature which came to characterize the priesthood of Cybele. Attis was a vegetation god whose death was mourned and annual resurection celebrated, but in Greek times he seems to have shared in the actual worship of the cult of Cybele.