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Last year
an exceedingly rare gold quarter
stater, minted more than two
thousand years ago in the Somme
Valley, was found near the
Anglo-Saxon village of Ringwould
in Kent. Struck around 250-225
BC in the territory of the
Ambiani tribe, who gave their
name to Amiens, this small gold
coin is a Gallo-Belgic copy of a
copy of of Greek gold stater of
Philip II of Macedon (382-336
BC), father of Alexander the
Great.
The obverse
shows a stylised head of Apollo,
son of Zeus and Leto, brother of
Artemis. Embedded among his
golden curls there is a lyre to
remind us that Apollo, as well
as being a god of healing,
purification, prophecy, painting
and poetry, was also a god of
music. The reverse displays a
Gaulish version of Apollo
driving his dazzling sun-chariot
across the sky. But I wonder if
the long-haired charioteer
depicted on this coin was really
intended to be Apollo? In his
right hand he is holding what
appears to be a large hammer or
mallet or possibly a battle-axe.
But it looks more like a hammer
to me. The hammer-god was an
important and popular deity in
the pagan Gallic pantheon and
images of him occur on more than
two hundred stone monuments and
bronze figurines. He had
different names in different
parts of Gaul. One of them was
Sucellos 'the good striker'. I
believe that this may be the
earliest representation of the
Gallic hammer-god on a coin.
This coin also features two
symbols which are not normally
seen on Gaulish coins. In
front of the horse is what
appears to be a bee, or it could
possibly be a thunderbolt. Below
the horse is a cruciform motif
composed of two pairs of
parallel lines, rather like two
pairs of crossed skis. The
significance of these two
unusual symbols is obscure,
though the bee in ancient times
was sometimes a sign of royalty,
long before Napoleon adopted it
for his empire. Many
ancient Greek coins display a
bee prominently, notably those
of Ephesos in Ionia.
This gold
quarter stater of the Somme
valley is a coin of the highest
rarity. As far as I know, only
one other example has been
published and that is the one in
the BN. This is a better
example. To be sold by phone
bid,
Chris Rudd
March catalogue.
11.1.10 |
