Lot 27
Thessaly. Larissa, c. 350-325 BC. AR Didrachm (12.16 g). Head of the nymph Larissa, facing and turned slightly to left, wearing necklace, with hair partially bound in ampyx. Reverse: Bridled horse walking to right; ethnic around. BMC 55; Gulbenkian 474; Herrman Group VII, pl. V, 1-2. Attractively toned, with iridescent golds and russets in the recesses. Rare. NGC graded About Uncirculated.
Unlike most regions of Greece, Thessaly contains the highest percentage of flat land and lowlands. Basically, it is comprised of plains ringed by mountains, which cut much of it off from the sea to the south, and pretty much isolates it from its neighbors. Thus its economy likewise differed from that of much of Greece. Rather than vine and olive cultivation, supplemented by sheep and goats, Thessaly's plains produced cereals and wheat, along with ample pasturage for cattle, and for a breed of horses the region became particularly famous for. Thus cattle and horses appear as consistent motifs in the region's coinages. The bull about 400 BC and earlier; the horses throughout the 4th century.
The chief town of Thessaly bore the name of the nymph, Larissa. She is seen in two mythological traditions as either the mother or the daughter of Pelasgus, whose name is the eponym of the Pelasgians, the earliest people of the region. In any event, her progeny constituted the ancestors of the three main tribes that populated Thessaly. It will be noted on the coin above that Larissa's portrait is closely modeled on the famed frontal portrait of Syracuse's Arethusa, engraved by Kimon for a Tetradrachm issue of about 406 B.C. The Syracusan coin was widely admired among the Greeks, and served as the prototype for many subsequent frontal portraits on a variety of coins from other cities.
Estimated Value $5,000 - 6,000.
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| Realized $10,063 |
