THRACO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES, Orreskioi. Circa 500-480 BC. Stater (Silver, 20 mm, 9.33 g). ΩPHΣ[KIΩN] Centaur advancing to right, carrying off nymph who rasies her right hand in protest. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. Asyut 90. HGC 3.1, 314. Peykov A0570. Svoronos, HPM, pl. V, 21. SNG ANS 978-9. Very rare and in exceptional condition for this issue. Lightly toned and of powerful Archaic style. Somewhat porous and with minor marks and an edge split, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.



The Orreskians are known to us solely through their impressive coinage, undoubtedly struck from the rich silver deposits of Mount Pangaion. From stylistic similarities it is generally assumed that they lived near the Bisaltae and Edoni - that is, in the hinterland of eastern Chalkidike and the region around Amphipolis. Our wonderful stater shows a Centaur carrying off a nymph, a scene of primal violence that recalls Homer’s description of the Centaurs:

ἤδη γὰρ καὶ φῆρες ὀρέσκιοι ἠδὲ Κένταυροι
καρτερὸι ἀγρότεροι δηΐον φθόνον εἶχον,
οἷς ἐγὼ ἐν Πύλῳ μαχόμην ... (Il. 1.268–270)

'Already once the mountain-dwelling Phēres, the Centaurs,
mighty and wild, who cherished destructive strife,
against whom I fought in Pylos ...’

The tribe’s very name echoes this Homeric epithet, and it is plausible that the Orreskians deliberately adopted the association in their coinage to project a rugged, untamed image.