LESBOS. Antissa. 3rd-2nd centuries BC. AE (Bronze, 16 mm, 3.92 g, 12 h). Head of Apollo to right, wearing taenia. Rev. A-N/T-IΣ Head of an archaic cult statue of Dionysos Phallen to right; to right, uncertain symbol (thymiaterion?). BMC 6. HGC 6, 869. SNG Copenhagen 338 var. (differing symbol). SNG München 694 var. (no countermark). SNG von Aulock 1733 var. (differing symbol). Very rare and of great interest. Slightly rough and with minor deposits and faint scratches, otherwise, nearly very fine.

The archaizing head on this bronze coin of Antissa has been identified as Dionysos Phallen and may reproduce the appearance of an ancient local cult image. Pausanias (10.19.3) records that fishermen from nearby Methymna recovered from the sea an unusual olive-wood face, which the Delphic oracle identified as Dionysos Phallen; the Methymnaeans subsequently established its cult and dedicated a bronze copy at Delphi. Although the literary account concerns Methymna rather than Antissa, it provides important evidence for the veneration of an archaic, mask-like image of Dionysos on Lesbos. The coin may therefore constitute a rare Hellenistic representation of such a venerable Lesbian cult image, although a direct identification with the object described by Pausanias cannot be demonstrated