I thought I would use Hieron with my Greek Artifact. Syracuse, Sicily, Hieron II 274-216 BC. Diademed head of Poseidon left, within border of dots / IE?O-NOS, trident head, with scrolls decoration between prongs; lotiform shaft, flanked by dolphins. SNG Cop 850. AE14 2.5 grams. Greek Oil Lamp 400-100 BC material: clay 2 1/2" X 1 1/2" (top view)
?=P Remember that the Greeks did not write the H sound. Modern Greek would add a diacritical mark to indicate aspiration but Hieron was many centuries before that. This one shows the name more clearly. Note the o is an omega in case you want to pronounce it differently (own not Ron). I still say "He-Ron" but I doubt he did.
Doug I like your ancient coin site, it is full of info. and knowledge, try to use it a lot, thumbs up!
A.T. That's a nice looking portrait of of Poseidon, especially considering the size of the coin ! Attached below is a Sicilian bronze coin that's been in my collection a long time with a nice looking portrait of Hieron II.
Great coin and nice lamp, @ancient times ! HIERON II: Sicily Syracuse Hieron II 275-269 BC AE 22 Persephone Bull LEFT Ex: @TIF OLD THING: Egypt Scarab RAMESSES II cartouche 19th Dyn 1292-1189 BCE winged uraeus cobra 4.1g 19mm Gustave Mustaki collection acquired from Egypt in 1948
I have a Hieron II bronze, but it has been partially obliterated by this overstruck, Roman Republican AE Sextans: Rome. The Republic. Corn Ear and KA Series (211-208 BCE), overstruck on bronze of Hieron II (275-215 BCE) AE Sextans (5.87g; 20mm). Sicilian Mint. Obverse: (overtype) Mercury head right, wearing petastos, two pellets above; (undertype) Poseidon head left (seen at 7h) Reverse: (overtype) Prow right, corn-ear above, IC before, ROMA below; (undertype) Trident (handle seen at 7h); dolphin on either side; IEPѠNOΣ below Overtype References: Crawford 69/6b; Sydenham 310d. Undertype References: SNG Copenhagen (Sicily) 844-856 Overstrike References: Crawford Table XVIII, No. 65. Provenance: Ex Forum Ancient Coins. During the Second Punic War, Roman military mints often overstruck war booty bronzes into Roman types. Weights of the bronze undertypes were of little consequence since the coins were fiduciary anyway; thus we often see a wide-range of weights on these overstruck coins. Module was perhaps more important for visual differentiation. Sometimes, the undertype is barely noticeable. Other times, the result is a clear melding of the devices of overtype and undertype, as on this coin. Here we clearly see Poseidon’s remaining profile from 6-9h on the obverse. The reverse shows signs of the trident base at 8h to the left of the prow. The Mercury/Prow overtype is remarkably crisp and complete. Crawford contains a table of known overstrikes in the Roman Republican series which includes the types combined on this coin.
Hieron II, 274-216 (There were no term limits in those days) 27 mm. 18.72 grams. Sear Greek 1221. Rutter says this may belong to the period of the first Punic war. ex CNG 55 (9/2000) lot 125. We have had many threads where the pros and cons of slabs have been discussed. One post above shows a slabbed coin like this, photographed so the slab is upright (which is fine for the obverse because that side is oriented correctly by the slabber, but not for the reverse). The photo shows the slab is regarded as more important than the coin. Had that coin been mine, I probably would have photographed it that same way. But it does show us one downside of slabs--they overshadow the coin.
Sicily, Syracuse. Hieron II, (25mm, 16.64g), Diademed head left / IEPΩNOΣ, armored horseman with spear right; monogram T below.