Catalog
1/2 Stater Charioteer facing right
| Issuer | Uncertain Gallia Celtica tribes |
|---|---|
| Year | 300 BC - 160 BC |
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| Composition | Gold |
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| Obverse description | Laureate male head in right profile, derived from the Macedonian prototype of Philip II staters, rendered in a distinctly Celtic La Tène artistic style. The hair is rendered as bold, deeply engraved spiraling curls and pellets, characteristic of Gaulish abstraction of the Hellenistic model. The facial features — prominent brow, rounded cheek, and simplified neck — are stylized yet powerfully modelled in high relief. The field is plain, with no legend or additional devices. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, typical of hand-struck Celtic coinage of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A biga (two-horse chariot) driven to the right by a charioteer, rendered in a schematized La Tène Celtic style derived from the reverse of Philip II of Macedon gold staters. The horses are depicted in vigorous motion, their bodies reduced to bold, globular forms. The charioteer holds the reins and is shown frontally or in partial view above the chariot body. The exergue bears the Greek inscription ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ, a vestige of the Macedonian prototype from which this coinage ultimately derives. Scattered pellets, annulets, and stylized ornamental elements fill the field around the chariot group. |
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| Additional information |
The charioteer stater types of Gallia Celtica derive ultimately from the gold staters of Philip II of Macedon, which flooded westward through trade and mercenary payments during the late 4th century BC. Celtic die-cutters progressively abstracted the Macedonian prototype over generations, dissolving the original figural composition into something barely recognizable — a process of deliberate artistic transformation, not degradation. The half-stater denomination saw even more radical treatment, compressed into a smaller flan that forced further abbreviation of already fragmentary imagery.
The DT 3286 attribution remains approximate. Tribal assignment within Celtica for uninscribed gold fractions of this period is largely hypothetical.