Megalopolis
For the Archadian League. Stater Summer 363 – Spring 362, AR 12.11 g. Laureate head of Zeus Lykaios l. Rev. Youthful and naked Pan seated l. on rocks, head facing, holding lagobolon in r. hand and resting l. elbow on rock covered by drapery and inscribed, on lower l. part, ΟΛΥΜ. At his feet, syrinx and in field l., AR ligate. Traité III 866 and pl. CCXXIV, 2 (these dies). Kraay-Hirmer pl. 159, 512 (this obverse die). Gulbenkian 532 (this obverse die). Jameson 1276. Gerin 11, dies 1/c (this coin). BCD Peloponnesos I, 1511 (this coin). BCD Peloponnesos II –.
Extremely rare. A portrait of excellent style and a wonderful old cabinet tone.
Flan crack on obverse, otherwise good very fine

Ex LHS 96, 2006, BCD, 1511 and Freeman & Sear Manhattan II, 2011, Peter Guber, 49 sales. From the Tripolis hoard of the 1950s.
Though the Greeks are generally regarded for how highly they valued independence, on numerous occasions they abandoned their civic pride in the hope that safety or success would result from joining forces. The best examples of this are found in the various leagues that were organized in Greece, including the Archadian League, formed by 370/69 B.C. in the heart of the Peloponnesus. Much like the inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, who in 408/7 B.C. abandoned their ancestral homes to found a metropolis, the Arcadians created a new city, which they appropriately called Megalopolis (‘big city’). From this administrative centre, with its concentrated population, the united Arcadians could at last stand up to the Spartans, who recently had been defeated by the Boeotians at Leuktra. The designs of the league’s coinage are thoroughly regional in nature: the portrait is that of Zeus Lycaeus, whose sanctuary was on Mount Lycaeum (the Mount Olympus of Arcadia), and the reverse shows the seated figure of Pan, who was especially worshipped in the region, and whose sanctuary was also on Mount Lycaeum. Various theories have been offered to explain the inscription ‘Olym’ on the mountain rock upon which Pan rests. The other known inscription, ‘Chari’, is also an abbreviated name. They usually are described as the names of magistrates or die engravers, but a more enticing prospect was supported by Barclay Head, who thought these staters were probably issued for national festivals based upon religious bonds. If so, Head suggested, the two names would allude to the Olympic Games and the agonistic festivals in honour of the Charites.