Asia Minor. Satraps of Caria. Pixodaros, c. 341/0 - 336/5 BC.
Tetradrachm. (Silver, 15.25g., 25.8mm). Laureate head of Apollo facing, three-quarter facing to right, with top of his cloak visible at his neckline / ΠΙΞΩΔΑΡΟΥ Zeus Labraundos standing right, holding long scepter in his left hand and double-ax in his right. Pixodarus 7-8 var. (these dies unlisted). SNG von Aulock 8047 var.

Pixodaros was the last of the five children of Hekatomnos, who became the powerful ruler of Caria and adjacent areas (c. 395-377 BC) thanks to his loyalty to Artaxerxes II. First based in Mylasa the capital of the Carian kingdom was moved to Halikarnassos by Hekatomnos’ eldest son Mausolos (377-353) and his sister-wife Artemisia; it was she who began her husband’s great funerary monument, the Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After her death in 351 she was replaced by Hidrieus (351-344), her husband’s brother, who finished the Mausoleum and was married to his own sister, Ada. In turn, at her husband’s death, she became satrap of Caria until her overthrow in 341 by Pixodaros, the last brother. His short rule lasted until just before Alexander’s invasion. The coinage of the three brothers was similar in all but their names: all bore heads of Apollo on their obverses and, on the reversese, a depiction of the statue of Zeus of Labraunda, placed in the family’s ancestral shrine near Mylasa by Mausolos himself. The head of Apollo on this coin is very possibly the finest of all those found on the coinage of the Hekatomnids: it has a serene nobility and elegance that is quite different from the Rhodian example that follows. In fact, it was inspired by, but exceeds, the beauty of the head of Helios on some extremely rare and nearly contemporary Rhodian gold staters (as AGC 300).

Grading/Status: Perhaps the most beautiful and impressive of all the very rare tetradrachms of Pixodaros, and one of the finest facing heads of Apollo ever to appear on a coin. Good extremely fine.

Notes
Provenance:
Triton XII, 6 January 2009, 325 (cover coin).