CILICIA. Mallos (?). 5th-4th centuries BC. Obol (Silver, 10 mm, 0.68 g, 6 h). Herakles, nude, croucing left, strangling the Nemean lion. Rev. Forepart of bull butting right within shallow round incuse. Casabonne -. Göktürk -. Klein -. SNG Levante -. SNG Paris -. Apparently unpublished. Struck from slightly worn dies and with minor porosity, otherwise, very fine.


While it is difficult to attribute this enigmatic coin with any certainty, its size and appearance suggest an origin in Cilicia, and there most likely the city of Mallos, which produced staters showing Herakles strangling the Nemean lion (SNG Paris 398 and 402, see also Leu 5 (2019), 168 for another obol with this motive on the obverse assigned to Mallos).