Crete, Gortyna, AR stater (11.88 g), c. 350-322 BC. Europa seated in a bower in pensive attitude/Zeus, as a bull, right, turning his head left.
Europa was the legendary daughter of a King of Sidon, in Phonecia; as related by Ovid in Metamorphoses II, Zeus had the royal herd of cattle brought to the seashore, and transformed himself into a beautiful white bull. When Europa, thinking the bull to be tame, climbed onto his back, he rode away into the waves of the Mediterranean, to Crete, where she became the first Queen, and mother of King Minos.
Very fine, light tone, struck on a broad flan, usual die wear. Scarce.
Le Rider XII, 12
ex-Karl Kress auction 130 (Munich), 30 June 1964, lot 235