Karia, Knidos AR Drachm. Circa 490-465 BC. Head and foreleg of

Karia, Knidos AR Drachm. Circa 490-465 BC. Head and foreleg of roaring lion to right / Archaic head of Aphrodite to right, wearing necklace, hair bound in taenia and in queue down neck, within incuse square. HNO 301 (temporary); Cahn, Knidos 64/2 and pl. 15, 64 (V31/R48 - this coin); SNG Copenhagen 217 (same dies). 6.25g, 18mm, 9h.



Near Extremely Fine; featuring an attractive old cabinet tone and a splendid archaic portrait of Aphrodite.



This coin published in H. Cahn, Knidos - Die Münzen des Sechsten und des Fünften Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 1970);

Ex Münzen & Medaillen Deutschland GmbH, Auction 38, 5 June 2013, lot 46;

Ex European collection formed in the mid 20th century, privately acquired from Münzhandlung Basel on 3 May 1938;

Ex Münzhandlung Basel, Auction 4, 1 October 1935, lot 824, noting "bon style archaïque. Superbe".



Knidos was a city of high antiquity, probably of Lakedaemonian or Megaran colonisation. The cult of Aphrodite was well established there, with no fewer than three temples for the goddess within the city walls - one for Aphrodite Doritis (the oldest), one for Aphrodite Akraia, and one for the Aphrodite called Knidia, which housed the renowned statue of Aphrodite by Praxiteles.