CARIA. Antioch ad Maeandrum. Circa 165-145. Tetradrachm (Silver, 27 mm, 15.99 g, 12 h), Eunikos, magistrate. Laureate head of Zeus to right. Rev. ANTIOXEΩN / ΤΩΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΩ - MAIANΔΡΟΣ - EYNIKOΣ Zebu bull standing left; to left, small winged Nemesis (?) standing right, drawing fold of drapery with her right hand; all within laurel wreath. BMC -. Leschhorn, Lexicon of Greek Coin Inscriptions -. McClean -. SNG Copenhagen -. SNG Lockett -. SNG von Aulock -. Weber -. Apparently unpublished, a hitherto unknown type and of the highest importance. Beautifully toned and of splendid Hellenistic style. Nearly extremely fine.


The civic tetradrachms of Antiochia ad Maeandrum are among the great rarities of the silver coinage of Hellenistic Asia Minor. They were probably struck after the conferment of liberty to large parts of the Rhodian Peraia in Caria by the Roman Senate following the lack of Rhodian support to Rome in the Third Macedonian War in 171-168. Until now, two types were known to exist: one with a laureate head of Apollo on the obverse and a Zebu bull on the reverse, and one with Zeus on the obverse and an eagle with differing attributes on the reverse. Our coin, however, combines the head of Zeus with the Zebu bull reverse. It is also unique in giving the explicite name 'Antiochia on the Maeander', differentiating the city from other Antiochiae in Asia Minor and the East (for a bronze with a similar legend, see BMC 9 and pl. III, 6). Both this and the masterful engraving indicate that the present die pair may have been, in fact, the prototype for the entire series.