Androclus, Founder of Ephesus

297, Lot: 167. Estimate $100. Sold for $338. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IONIA, Ephesus. Gallienus. AD 253-268. Æ (28mm, 8.22 g, 12h). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Androclus, nude, advancing right, holding spear over shoulder in left hand, patera and dead boar in right; tree in background to left. SNG Copenhagen 512; SNG von Aulock –. VF, rough green patina.

The reverse alludes to the founding myth of Ephesus. Androclus was instructed by the Delphic Oracle to found a city at the place indicated by a fish and boar. While traveling with his companions, a fish which they were about to fry leapt from the pan, in turn causing a fire which prompted a boar to flee from the nearby bushes. Androclus killed the boar, and interpreted the incident as fulfillment of the prophecy.