MYSIA. Gambrion. Gorgion, circa 400 BC. AE (Bronze, 9 mm, 0.85 g, 7 h). Laureate head of Apollo to left. Rev. Forepart of a bull advancing right. BMC -. SNG Copenhagen 144. SNG Paris -. SNG Tübingen -. SNG von Aulock -. Very rare. The obverse struck somewhat off center, otherwise, very fine.


Gorgion was one of the sons of Gongylos the Eretrian, a Greek statesman who had sided with the Persians during the Second Persian Invasion of Greece. As with other Greek defectors, the Persian Great King welcomed Gongylos and his sons as refugees after the Greek victories and awarded them a number of Mysian cities, with Gorgion receiving Gambrion and Palægambrion when his father died early in the Peloponnesian War. The Gongylids were last heard of in 399 BC, when Xenophon received some aid from them, after which they disappeared in the turmoil of the Spartan-Persian and the Corinthian Wars (399-394 and 395-387 BC, respectively).