Stater (Coin) Portraying Mithrapata

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

380-375 BCE

Greek; Lycia, Asia Minor

This coin originated in Lycia, an independent country that belonged to the Greek Empire, in a district that is now southwestern Turkey. This coin displays one of the earliest known examples of a human profile on coinage. The image portrays the dynast Mithrapata, whose facial features are strongly depicted, with a flat nose, high cheekbones, a thick neck, a beard, and short curly hair. The profile is set within an incuse square that also contains the Lycian insription “MITHRIPATI.”

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Greek
Title: Stater (Coin) Portraying Mithrapata
Place: Anatolia (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 380 BCE–375 BCE
Medium: Silver
Inscriptions: Reverse: MITHRIPATI
Dimensions: Diam.: 2.7 cm (1 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Katherine K. Adler Memorial Fund
Reference Number: 2008.423
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/196262/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report: 2008-09 (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), pp. 19-20.

Purchased by Harlan J. Berk of Chicago, Illinois from Gorny and Mosch, Munich, Germany, Auction 164, March 17, 2008, lot 235; purchased by the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois in 2008.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.