Rare Zodiac Type

216, Lot: 384. Estimate $750. Sold for $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHOENICIA, Sidon. Elagabalus. AD 218-222. Æ 28mm (14.82 g, 5h). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / Cart of Astarte containing baetyl within Zodiacal wheel. BMC 260; SNG Copenhagen -. Good Fine, brown patina. Rare.

Astarte, deriving from the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, was worshipped in Phoenicia in the form of a baetyl (an aniconic stone cult image). Here the baetyl is shown on its sacred cart (for an enlarged depiction of this cart, see the previous lot) in the center of a zodiac. A ring or belt thought to cover the regions of the heavens containing the stars and planets, the Zodiac’s twelve divisions each contain a sign.