Pamphylia Aspendos AR Drachm circa 420-360 BC Warrior (Mopsos) on horseback left, brandishing spear / Boar standing right. 5.35 grams, 17 mm. About Extremely Fine. Well centered and struck, without the usual countermarks. Exceptional for issue. Very rare. Slightly granular surfaces. SNG France -, BMC 10, SNG von Aulock 4488 (same dies), SNG Copenhagen -. Purchased from Rex Numismatics, Rotterdam. Video: https://youtu.be/ZFspqPREyKk This coin illustrates the founding myth of Aspendos. According to it, the Greek hero Mopsos once came to the region of Aspendos. There were plenty of wild boars because the Eurymedon River that flows through this area had created a marshy landscape at its mouth. Wild boars love swamps in which they can wallow with relish. However, a city founder like Mopsos had to prove that he could keep the pests of agriculture – such as wild boars – at bay before founding a city that depended on the yields from its fields. Wild boars can wipe out months of farmers' labor in a single night. In fact, Mopsos managed to kill a large boar on one of the fast and enduring horses Aspendos was famous for. He sacrificed the killed boar to the patron god of Aspendos, a twin Aphrodite (Aphroditai Kastnietides). As a result of this first sacrifice, pigs were offered to this twin Aphrodite until the demise of the ancient religion. Mopsos did this on a hill above the Eurymedon River, where he then founded the Greek city of Aspendos (from Künker Auction 402, lot 359, which was with same dies, hammered for 5000 EUR). |