MYSIA. Kyzikos. EL Hekte - 1/6 Stater (Circa 450-330 BC)..

Obv: Kerberos standing left on tunny left.
Rev: Quadripartite incuse square.

Von Fritze I 103; Greenwell 141; Boston MFA 1539; SNG BN 244; SNG von Aulock 7300; Rosen 484.

Ex Fritz Rudolf Künker 94 (2004), lot 9845; ex The New York Sale XXV (2011), lot 69. Guardian of the underworld, son of Echidna and Typhon, Cerberus had three heads (according to some versions fifty or a hundred), a mane of snakes, and a dragon's tail. His specific duty was to prevent the living from entering and the dead from leaving, but he failed in this task on very rare occasions: when he was enchanted by the music of Orpheus, who had come among the dead to retrieve his lost bride; when he was captured by Herakles in one of his twelve labors; and finally when he fell asleep after eating a honey loaf that Aeneas gave him on the advice of the Cumaean Sibyl.

Condition: Near extremely fine.

Weight: 2.67 g.
Diameter: 12 mm.