Published Ancient Greek Silver Tetradrachm Coin from Akragas - 409 BC

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Published Ancient Greek Silver Tetradrachm Coin from Akragas - 409 BC:
$35000.00

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A well provenanced and extremely rare masterpiece of ancient Greek coinage. A silver tetradrachm from the city of Akragas, on the island of Sicily, struck circa 409 BC.

The artistry and beauty of Sicilian coins was unparalleled in the ancient world, yet this stunning tetradrachm rises above even those high standards; it radiates raw energy and violent motion. The obverse shows a four-horse chariot, the animals struggling at their reins whilst the sinewy rider reaches out to urge them still faster. There is little finesse about the scene, it is gloriously chaotic, yet still composed enough to feel like a genuine moment in time.

On the reverse is an image probably taken from Aeschylus, foretelling the fall of Troy at the hands of the Greeks. Two eagles atop a rocky outcrop tear mercilessly at a hare, the likeness so arresting that one can almost hear the screech of the great bird in the foreground. Representing the final, brilliant breath of Akragas, this coin was struck only a few years before the great city’s permanent destruction.

Of all the coins of the ancient Greek world, the tetradrachms of Akragas, produced in the few years before the cities destruction, are considered to be some of the most powerful and dynamic of all. Not just a coin, this is an extraordinary work of Classical Greek art.

Weight: 17.15 g

Diameter: 29 mm

Provenance:

Ex. Swiss Bank Corporation, sale 38, Zurich, 12th September 1995. Lot 46.

Published:

ArtAncient, 2014. Glimpses. Object 23.

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