Ex Jameson and Evans Collections
SICILY, Segesta. Circa 405/2-400 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 16.41 g, 6h). The hunter Aigestes standing right, with foot on rock, holding javelins and resting hand on hip; two hounds at feet / Head of the nymph Segesta right within shallow incuse circle. Hurter,
Didrachmenprägung T9o (V4/R8) = Jameson 709 (this coin); Mildenberg,
Kimon 22 (same dies); SNG ANS 646 (same dies); Rizzo pl. LXII, 15 (same dies). VF, find patina.
Ex NGSA IV (11 December 2006), lot 43; R. Jameson Collection, 709; Sir Arthur J. Evans Collection; Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition, London, 1904, lot 195.
Segesta was the principal city of the Elymi in north-west Sicily. The Segestans wrote their Elymian language in Greek characters, as witnessed by their coins. They developed a traditional hostility with Selinos, in the pursuit of which they allied themselves with Athens in 418/7 (Thuc. 6. 6-8 and 46). In 409 Segesta passed into the Carthaginian sphere of influence.
Although the most common denomination at Segesta was the didrachm, a few very rare and extremely accomplished tetradrachms were minted in about 400 with a remarkably detailed representation of a young huntsman. S. Hurter has maintained the traditional identification of this young man as Aigestes, the legendary founder of the city, son of the Trojan maiden Segesta by the river Krimsos. Other plausible identifications are the hunter Krimsos or Pan, god of the hunt.
