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Didrachm of Selinos with Herakles subduing bull
Greek
Classical Period
about 460–440 B.C.
Mint: Sicily, Selinos
Medium/Technique
Silver
Dimensions
Diameter: 22 mm. Weight: 8.53 gm. Die Axis: 7
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number04.482
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsNumismatics – Coins
Catalogue Raisonné
Brett, Greek Coins (MFA), no. 0318.
DescriptionObverse: Nude, beardless Herakles to right, subduing wild bull charging right; he swings club with right hand and grasps horn of bull with left hand, tripping bull with left foot.
Inscription in Greek.
Border of dots.
Reverse: River-god Hypsas standing facing, head to left, sacrificing at altar; in extended right hand a phiale, and in lowered left hand, a laurel branch, downwards; nude; wearing fillet with upright end; hair rolled.
Altar with gable and volutes; row of dots below gable; bearded serpent twined about altar, raising head towards Hypsas.
In right field, a selinon leaf, downwards; below right, heron walking right.
Inscription in Greek above.
Round incuse.
Inscription in Greek.
Border of dots.
Reverse: River-god Hypsas standing facing, head to left, sacrificing at altar; in extended right hand a phiale, and in lowered left hand, a laurel branch, downwards; nude; wearing fillet with upright end; hair rolled.
Altar with gable and volutes; row of dots below gable; bearded serpent twined about altar, raising head towards Hypsas.
In right field, a selinon leaf, downwards; below right, heron walking right.
Inscription in Greek above.
Round incuse.
Provenance1879: Paravey Sale, no. 98 (according to Regling and Brett catalogues); by date unknown: Canon Greenwell Collection; July 1902: acquired from Canon Greenwell Collection by Edward Perry Warren (Regling, Die Griechischen Münzen der Sammlung Warren, no. 290); September 1904: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren