Lydia, Tralleis. AE 18

Lydia, Tralleis; 2nd-1st cent. BC, AE 18, 5.30g. SNG Kayhan-1010. Obv: Laureate head of Zeus r. Rx: ΔIOΣ TPAΛΛIANΩN above and below winged thunderbolt, all within laurel wreath. Ex HJB 143, 18 May 2005, lot 366. At that time, the late Dr. David MacDonald explained that this type was unknown until about fifty specimens, all from the same die pair, emerged in a hoard in the 1990s. Curiously, the name of Zeus on the reverse is in the genitive case, implying that this issue somehow belonged to or was authorized by the Zeus worshipped in Tralles. Dr. MacDonald suggested that the issue may exceptionally have been superintended by the city's priests of Zeus.. aEF