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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
132, Lot: 127. Estimate $100.
Sold for $123. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Tarsus. Philip I. 244-249 AD. Æ 36mm (17.11 g). Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / Herakles and Antaeus: Herakles standing facing, head left, leaning right and wrestling Antaeus; he lifts Antaeus up into the air by the waist while Antaeus tries to break his grip. SNG Levante 1152 (same obverse die); SNG France -; SNG von Aulock -; Voegtli 17h. Near Fine, brown and green patina.

The giant Antaeus, the son of Poseidon and Mother Earth, was in the habit of forcing strangers to wrestle him until they were exhausted, whereupon he killed them. Not only was he a strong and skilled athlete, but whenever he touched his mother, the earth, his strength was revived. Herakles and Antaeus met while Herakles was out traveling for his labors, and Herakles became determined to end this barbarous practice. He accepted Antaeus' challenge to a wrestling match and realizing that Antaeus was a son of Mother Earth; he lifted Antaeus in the air, off the ground, until he crushed him to death.