MYSIA. Kyzikos. Circa 450-330 BC. Stater (Electrum, 19 mm, 16.05 g, 12 h). Helios, nude and radiate, kneeling right with his arms outstretched in front of two horses prancing to left and right; below, tunny to right. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. BMC 105. Boston MFA 1515. SNG Paris 297. SNG von Aulock 7311. Von Fritze I, 148 and pl. IV, 35. Very rare and undoubtedly among the finest known examples of this remarkable issue, with a magnificent and highly unusual depiction of Helios and his immortal horses, probably derived from a sculptural prototype. Very minor doubling on the obverse, otherwise, extremely fine.


The imagery of this remarkable type is a highly compressed evocation of Helios’ daily journey across the heavens. Rather than showing the sun-god in his customary chariot, the Kyzikene engraver has reduced the scene to its essential elements: the radiate god and his immortal horses, whose foreparts rise symmetrically on either side of him. The result is an exceptionally compact and almost architectural composition, so carefully balanced that J. P. Six already suggested that it might ultimately derive from a sculptural model, perhaps a temple metope.

The choice of Helios need not have been purely decorative. The god was worshipped at nearby Zeleia on the Aisepos, and Greenwell considered a cult at Kyzikos itself probable. Solar imagery would in any case have found a natural place within the city’s strong Apolline traditions.