Kos (BC 30) AE 31 - Nikias

ca 30 BC. AE31 (23.56g). [ΝΙΚΙ]ΑΣ, head of Nikias right wearing a slight beard, band in hair / ΚΩΙΩΝ ΚΑΛΛΙΠΠΙΔΗΣ, laureate head of Asklepios right. VF, brown and green patina, minor adjustment marks on both sides. Rare.

The elusive Nikias apparently seized power in Kos in the late Republican period, perhaps taking advantage of turmoil within the Roman Empire. He is usually dated between about 50 BC and the reign of Augustus, but the only evidence for his date is the style of portrait, which seem's to be strongly influenced by the portraiture of Octavian. His coinage, however, has not yet been fully studied, and even the sequence of his mint magistrates has not yet been established.