LOT 2616
Lakonia, Lakedaimon (Sparta) AE 20mm. 31-2 BC.
C. Julius Eurykles, magistrate. Head of Zeus to right / Upright club; Λ-A EΠI EY-PY-KΛ[E]-O-Σ in four lines across fields; all within wreath. Grunauer Group XXVI, Series 1; BCD Peloponnesos II 2376; BMC 63; RPC I 1103; HGC 5, 625. Near Very Fine.(5.55gr, 21mm, 2h.).
ProvenanceFrom a private, UK, collection in the 1980s.
Property of a London, UK, antiquarian.
C. Julius Eurykles led Spartan ships to join Octavian at the battle of Actium and was later awarded Roman citizenship and the title of 'hegemon' of the Spartans following the victory. His distinction by the emperor Augustus was not the only benefit from his involvement in the battle. In defeating Antony, Eurykles avenged his father, Lachares, whom Antony had executed.
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![Group of Eight [8] AE Ancient Coins.](https://timelineauctions.com/upload/images/items/small/224337-s.jpg)
Group of Eight [8] AE Ancient Coins. 3rd-1st century BC.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Various rulers and cities. 39.30gr total.
Fine to Very Fine.
From a private, UK, collection in the 1980s. Property of a London, UK, antiquarian. -
Seleukis and Pieria, Seleukeia Pieria AE 21mm. Circa 200-1 BC.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Dated SE 165 (148/7 BC). Adelphoi Demoi ("Brother Peoples") issue. Laureate head of Zeus to right / Winged thunderbolt; EΞP (date), monogram of BA and AΔEΛΦΩN above; ΔHMΩN and monogram of BYΠ below; all within wreath. BMC 6-8 (Antioch); HGC 9, 1396. 8.29gr, 21mm, 4h.
Very Fine.
From the collection of a London antiquarian, formed since the 1980s. -
Kings of Cappadocia, Hypaioros AE 17mm. Circa 250-187 BC.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
Uncertain mint. Head to right, wearing bashlyk / ΥΠΑΙoΡo[...], Nike standing facing, head to left, holding long palm in extended right hand. Unrecorded ruler but cf. Roma Numismatics, E-81, 607 ('ΥΠΑΙ' legend on coin of Ariarathes) and HGC 9, 493b (similar reverse of issue of Antiochos III). 5.00gr, 17mm, 11h.
Good Very Fine. Unpublished and unique; of great historical and numismatic importance.
Ex 'V' gentleman's collection, Switzerland. From the property of a North London, UK, gentleman.
It is not rare when a coin can be the only evidence about the existence of a person or city from the past. On this particular coin, it is the inscription of YΠΑΙΟΡΟ that makes it difficult to attribute. No city or ruler is recorded with this name and the only ancillary evidence we have is its similarity to some other types. First of all, the style of the leather helmet (called bashlyk, common for the Cappadocian bronzes) and the lack of the royal title, refer us to the king of Cappadocia, Ariaramnes. The Roma's example is the only other example who bears the abbreviated legend YΠΑΙ but on a coin of Ariarathes. On the other hand, the reverse type and style of legend resemble the bronze coins of Antiochos III struck in Southern Coele-Syria (SC 1100a; HGC 9, 493b). It is not certain whether the name refers to a city or to a ruler. Bronze coins of Ariaramnes can have the name of the mint abbreviated (cf. Simonetta 9a&b), but it is considered unusual in this period to have a bronze coin with a full ethnic and the portrait of the ruler. It is very likely that we are dealing with the name of a Cappadocian ruler who was active for a short period in the second half of the 3rd to the first part of the 2nd century and participated in the recovery of the outlying provinces of the Seleucid Empire from Antiochos III.
