ANCIENT GREECE - GREEK Mysia, Cyzic. Electrum statère ND (550-500 BC), Cyzique. Av. Phobos (?) with animal head and tail, tuna in hands, kneeling left. Rv. Quadripartite hollow square. SNG France 271 - SNG von Aulock 1198 - Von Fritze 123 ; Electrum - 16,19 g - 18 mm - 12 h From a private purchase at Tradart on 31 January 2002. NGC XF 5/5 3/5 Fine graffito style (6632270-005). Quality blank, barely quadrangular, with a centred and perfectly raised strike. Graffito barely visible on the right. Very fine, strikingly inspired depiction of the winged lion-headed God. Very rare. Superb. According to legend, Cyzicus was built by Cyzicus, son of Apollo, or more likely by the Mimesians in the 7th century BC. A coastal city in Mysia, on the Propontide (Sea of Marmara), the city is a crossroads between the Euxin Bridge and the Aegean Sea, between Europe and Asia, and a point of passage between Thrace and Asia Minor. Thanks to its location, Cyzique was an important trading centre and a centre for tuna fishing, which made it a flourishing city, famous for its beauty and wealth. It was also an important cultural centre, with a school of mathematics, numerous historians, renowned architects and other specialists.