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171
Lesbos, Mytilene. Electrum Hekte (2.52 g), ca. 454-428/7 BC. Youthful male head right, wearing tainia.
Rev. Wreathed male head with long beard right in incuse square. Bodenstedt 52; HGC 6, 978. Very
Fine.
$350
172
Lesbos, Mytilene. Electrum Hekte (2.57 g), ca. 412-378 BC. Forepart of winged lion left. Rev. Sphinx
seated right in linear square within incuse square. Bodenstedt 63; HGC 6, 989 correction. (lion, not boar).
Rare.
Mint luster present, delicately toned and unusually well centered. The seated sphinx is fantastic! Ex-
tremely Fine.
$1,000
From the Dionysus Collection.
According to Greek mythology, the sphinx was a monstrous creature composed of a woman’s head and the body of a lion
that was sent to punish Boiotian Thebes. It would ask passersby a riddle, and if they could not give the correct answer the
sphinx (from the Greek verb sphingo, “to throttle”) would kill them. At last the tragic hero Oedipus answered the riddle and
freed the city from the terror of the sphinx. The sphinx on this coin, however, is male, and therefore somewhat closer to
the sphinxes of Egypt, the model from which the Greeks ultimately derived their sphinx tradition. Indeed, even in the Oedi-
pus myth, the Greeks recalled that Hera had sent the sphinx to Thebes from its homeland in Aethiopia, not far from Egypt.
173
Lesbos, Mytilene. Electrum Hekte (2.49 g), ca. 412-378 BC. Forepart of winged lion left. Rev. Sphinx
seated right in linear square within incuse square. Bodenstedt 63; HGC 6, 989.
Rare.
Well centered and well
struck. Choice Very Fine.
$800
From the Dionysus Collection.
174
Lesbos, Mytilene. Electrum Hekte (2.54 g), ca. 412-378 BC. Helmeted head of Ares right. Rev. Head of
Amazon right, wearing ornate helmet; all within linear border within incuse square. Bodenstedt 65; HGC
6, 991. Fine style. Obverse depicting Ares in high relief. Lightly toned. Choice Very Fine.
$400
From the Dionysus Collection.
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