31073: LESBOS. Mytilene. Ca. 454-427 BC. EL sixth-state

LESBOS. Mytilene. Ca. 454-427 BC. EL sixth-stater or hecte (10mm, 2.55 gm, 5h). NGC AU S 5/5 - 4/5, Fine Style. Bearded head of Priapus right, wearing taenia / Head of nymph right, wearing sphendone, within incuse square. HGC 6, 969. Bodenstedt 43. Priapus, god of fertility and male virility, is seldom shown in portrait form on Greek coinage. He was the offspring of Aphrodite and either Dionysus or Hermes and is usually shown as a stunted figure with a grotesquely enlarged phallus. Since he was also cursed with impotence, his endowment did him little good and he usually seen as a comically suffering character. His cult was well established in Lampsacus in Mysia, which struck rare silver tetradrachms with a portrait strongly resembling the evocative image on this rare electrum hecte. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved