Wayne G. Sayles has presented a remarkable hypothesis linking this type with one of the most important artistic achievements of the classical world. The bronze and ivory monumental statue of Athena Promachos, created around 460 BC by Pheidias of Athens, became one of the most admired art works of the ancient world. Except for an abortive effort by Caligula to remove it to Rome, it was a protected treasure of Athens for 750 years, until Constantine removed it to his new capital of Constantinople in 330 AD. The statue faded from view for nearly 900 years, until 1203, when Constantinople was beseiged by the forces of the Fourth Crusade. A superstitious populace, believing the mammoth statue was somehow beckoning the invaders, pulled it down and destroyed it. This wanton act of destruction would have appalled the few scholars still conversant with classical history, quite a number of whom were attached to the courts of Islamic rulers. Muhammud, educated by such scholars, would have struck this coin to mark the loss of an important work of art at the hands of what the Turks would regard as barbaric westerners.