Maison Palombo Geneve

Auction 17  –  20 October 2018

Maison Palombo Geneve, Auction 17

Ancient and World Coins and Medals

Sa, 20.10.2018, from 10:30 AM CEST
The auction is closed.

Description

Trajan (98-117) Aureus - Rome (101-102) Très rare. Légères marques sur le visage et un choc sur la tranche. 7.28g - Cal. 1053a - Woytek type 99c Superbe à FDC - CHOICE AU P.V. Hill, in The Monuments of Ancient Rome as Coin Types (1989), dates this series to AD 202, and considers that it was issued to commemorate the successful end of the first Dacian war. Its reverse shows Hercules, a god especially significant to Trajan who was born in Italica (in Baetica – Spain) where the cult of Hercules Gaditanus was very popular, and he is depicted holding one of the Golden Apples of Hesperides. This actual statue, without its stand or the Nemean lionskin, has survived (see O. Palagia, “Two statues of Hercules in the Forum Boarium in Rome”, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 9.1, March 1990, 51-70). The Hercu- les Musei Capitolini is a gilded bronze sculpture, slightly over life-sized at 241 cm high, of the first or second century AD, which was rediscovered in the fifteenth-century. It was originally standing within the Forum Boarium in Rome, where the Great Altar of Unconquered Hercules (Herculis Invicti Ara Maxima/Magna) supposedly stood at the spot where the god had slewed Cacus (the fire-breathing giant son of Vulcan). It burned during the Great Fire of AD 64, but was rebuilt and stood until the fourth century at least. F. Coarelli hypothesized that its foundations are below the Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin (where the Bocca della Verità - Mouth of Truth mask stands). According to Varro, the ceremonies held there were forbidden to women, and – unusually – were performed with heads uncovered (ritu Graeco).

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Price realized 12'000 CHF
Starting price 9'000 CHF
Estimate 10'000 CHF
The auction is closed.
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