199, Lot: 255. Estimate $100. Sold for $160. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHRYGIA, Apameia. Circa 100-50 BC. Æ 19mm (8.35 g, 1h). Herakle... and Eglo..., magistrates. Laureate head of Zeus right / Cult statue of Artemis Anaïtis facing. SNG Copenhagen 183; SNG von Aulock 347. VF, dark green patina.

From the D. Alighieri Collection.

Artemis Anaïtis was a fusion of the Persian goddess Anahita and the Greek Artemis. Tacitus (Annals 62) refers to the syncretic deity simply as the “Persian Diana”, who had a temple in Lydia “dedicated in the reign in of Cyrus” (presumably Cyrus the Great).