IONIA. Uncertain. 5th century BC. Hemihekte – 1/12 Stater (Electrum, 7 mm, 1.00 g, 4 h). Winged siren standing right, holding tympanon with both hands. Rev. Boukranion facing, with fillets hanging from horns. Heritage 3071 (2019), 33161. New York Sale XXV (2011), 97. Roma III (2012), 197 (same reverse die). Rosen 369. Triton XXVII (2024), 269 (same dies). Very rare and unusually well preserved, with a wonderful rendering of a siren. A few light marks, otherwise, about extremely fine.



A precise attribution of these magnificent small-electrum coins is unfortunately not possible, given the absence of legends or secure iconographic references. The obverse bears a wonderful image of a Siren, rendered with exceptional detail on our specimen. In Greek mythology, Sirens are hybrid beings with the head of a woman and the body of a bird; the later conception of them as mermaid-like figures belongs only to Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the Odyssey they lure sailors to their doom with enchanting song, prompting Odysseus to have his companions block their ears with wax. From the sixth century BC onward, Sirens appear in art on vases, funerary reliefs, and freestanding grave monuments, often as lamenting or music-making companions of the dead. Their usual attributes include the lyre and the aulos - or, as on our hemihekte, the tympanon, a ritual percussion instrument associated above all with ecstatic music and the sphere of Dionysos, which here underscores the seductive and dangerous power of their song.