MOESIA INFERIOR. Apollonia Pontica. AR Drachm

MOESIA INFERIOR. Apollonia Pontica. AR Drachm, circa early 4th century BC (15 mm, 3.20 g). Obv. Anchor; below, crayfish; to left, Α. Rev. Facing gorgoneion. Refs: SNG Black Sea 155; SNG Copenhagen 454. One of the most distinctive civic types of the Black Sea region, this drachm of Apollonia Pontica combines two potent emblems. The anchor, accompanied by a crayfish, proclaims the city’s maritime identity and its prosperity as a trading port on the western coast of the Pontos Euxeinos (modern Sozopol, Bulgaria). The reverse gorgoneion, with bulging eyes and lolling tongue, served as a potent apotropaic image, a protective device to ward off evil, while also invoking the terror of Medusa’s myth. Together the types neatly capture both the city’s reliance on seafaring and its appeal to divine guardianship. The coinage of Apollonia Pontica circulated widely in the northern Aegean and Black Sea littoral during the 5th and 4th centuries BC, reflecting the city’s role as a hub of Hellenic colonisation and commerce. The anchor type, introduced under influence from the Milesian founders, became a lasting symbol of the city, while the gorgoneion reflects a pan-Hellenic tradition of protective imagery on coinage. Condition: Old cabinet tone with excellent surfaces, the gorgoneion bold and expressive. About Extremely Fine. Provenance: Ex Sternberg 19 (4 November 1987), lot 88; ex NGSA 6 (27 February 2011), lot 40.