The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal ... - IndianCoins.org

238 J. MAVKOGORDATO.which appears occasionally from now onwards on thehead of the Sphinx,112 is so frequentlyseen on latecoins in connexion with so many forms of worshipthat it isperhaps hardly worth mentioning. But theobject is of especial interest at Chios as supportingthe theory, put forward in the introduction to thisstudy and in the comments on some of the archaicsilver coins, 113 that the Sphinx has a strong claim tobe regarded^as] a chthonic emblem in its origin. Nodoubt its Dionysiac aspect had prevailed since theprimitive days, but its representation here with thehead-dress proper to the gods of the lower world makesit look as if the other view had survived as well.A simpler explanation may be that this particularrendering of the Sphinx is due to the slavish copyingof some statue at a time when the true meaning of allsuch symbolism hadfbeen forgotten. 114Among the names 115 are those of the two remainingmagistrates whose coins I am dividing between thelast period and this one, ATTOAA12N[IAHZ] andToPriAZ. Under type No. 67 it was pointed out thatFopytas-, like MrjTpoScapos, was probably among thelatest of his group, so that the chances in favour of his112 It seems to have been used first on one of the drachms withKOPHNOZ, type No. 66 y, above.113Num. Chron., 1915, pp. 5 and 34. With regard to the lotusflowerand cock's head symbols, and the spiral ornament on theSphinx's head.114Though not quite a'parallel case, see Beule's Monn. d'Athenes,pp. 246-8, for the adaptation of the head-dress of Isis to laterepresentations of Ceres.116Mionnet's reading AZTTAPOZ, Med. grecques, vi, p. 389,No. 24, was probably taken from a coin of this type withAZTTAZIoZ.