Nomos 38

CYPRUS. Marion. Sasmai, circa 470-450 BC. Stater (Silver, 25.5 mm, 11.39 g, 9 h). sa-sa-ma-o to-ka-ro-to-sa = Sasmas, son of Doxandros, (in Cypriot syllabic script) Lion standing right, bending his head back to clean his right foreleg; above, Boeotian shield; in exergue, floral pattern. Rev. ma-ri-eu-se = of Marion, (in Cypriot syllabic script) Phrixos moving to left, clinging on to the back of a ram running to left; below, Boeotian shield; all within an incuse square. ACGC 1108. BMC p. 71, 1. SNG Copenhagen 24. Traité II,2, 1366 and pl. CXXXVI, 17 (but misdescribed). Tziambazis 50. Zapiti & Michaelidou 1. Unusually well centered and complete. Struck from worn dies, otherwise, about very fine.

Marion is famous for the mythological scenes depicted on its coinage. On this early issue, (assuming that it has been correctly interpreted), we see Phrixos just taking off on his flight to Colchis with the ram with its golden wool (soon to become a golden fleece). On the later coinage we see the famous scene of the abduction of Europa by Zeus, who took the form of a wild bull. This depiction is very close to the way Phrixos was shown on the earlier issues. Oddly enough, while neither myth is related to Cyprus, they are to Boeotia. Why Marion should have used these two famous Boeotian myths on its coinage (as well as the Boeotian shield that also appears on this piece) is unclear, but it might be a nod to the presence of immigrant Greeks from central Greece.