ISLANDS OFF CARIA, Kos. 170-162 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 35 mm, 16.39 g, 12 h), Eurylochos, magistrate. Head of Aphrodite to right, wearing wreath of myrtle. Rev. KΩIΩN - EYPYΛOXOΣ Asklepios standing right, placing his right hand on his hip and leaning left on serpent-entwined staff. Leu 30 (1982), 183. Stefanaki Series XV, Emission 45, 1796-8. Extremely rare. An attractively toned and very interesting coin. Cleaning scratches on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine.


This extremely rare piece belongs to a great number of civic tetradrachms emerging in the second quarter of the 2nd century BC in the Aegean region, the most famous of which are the well-known Stephanephoroi. Common to all of them is that they replace the previous Royal images such as Alexander's Herakles and Zeus with local types, and in the case of the present issue this is Artemis and Asklepios, the two principal deities of the Koan polis.