CRETE. Gortyna. Circa 330-270 BC. Stater (Silver, 26 mm, 11.82 g, 3 h). Europa seated half-right in a plane tree, resting her right hand on tree trunk and extending her left to right. Rev. Bull standing right, head turned back to left to lick its flanks. BMC 17 (same dies). Boston MFA 1275 (same dies). Gulbenkian 564 (same dies). Le Rider pl. XIII, 4-9 (same dies). Svoronos, Crete, 61 and pl. 14, 8 (same obverse die). Beautifully toned and in exceptional condition for the issue. A magnificent and unusually complete example of fine style with virtually no traces of overstriking. Minor scrape on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine.


Obverse and reverse of this magnificent coin relate to the myth of Zeus and Europa, the daughter of Agenor, the Phoenician King of Tyre. Wary of his jealous wife Hera, Zeus took the form of a bull and abducted Europa, whom he had fallen in love with, from Tyre to Crete, where he begot three children with her: Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. It is worth noting that most Cretan staters show heavy signs of overstriking, as they were often quite carelessly overstruck on Kyrenaikan coins arriving on the island with Cretan mercenaries returning home from Kyrenaika in 322 BC, where they had served the Macedonian general Thibron. The present coin is a pleasant exception: it shows virtually no traces of overstriking, which so often plague the series, and hence reveals the full beauty of its exceptional Cretan artisanship.