Claudius, Sidon (Phoenicia), AE 23 mm, 9.47 g, 12 h. 51/2 AD. Obv.: laureate head of Claudius, right Rev.: ΣΙΔΩΝΟ[Σ ΘΕΑΣ], L ΒΞΡ (in field); Europa on galloping bull, right. Date : Year 162 (51/2 AD) RPC I, 4615. Not very common. Europa was a mythological figure. Her Greek name means "large eyes". She was said to be a Phoenician princess, daughter of the king of Tyre (or Sidon?). Zeus, taking the form of a bull, abducted her (apparently he persuaded her to ride on his back) and, flying over the sea, brought her to Crete, where he fathered three sons : Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon. For the historians of religion, this myth is the evolution, in historic times, of the ancient neolithic worshiping of the pair Bull / Mother-Godess. We find it in Babylon with the pair Marduk / Ishtar, in Cretan mythology with Zeus as a bull / Europe or Bull / Pasiphae... There are different images of Europa. She can be depicted sitting in a tree as on 5th-4th c. BC staters of Gortyna in Crete, or standing at a fountain by the shore with the bull jumping out of the waves to abduct her, as on mid-3rd c. AD bronzes of Tyre. But her most iconic depiction is riding the bull sidesaddle, while holding inflated veil over her head. This standard depiction can be found on many vase paintings since the 4th c. BC, many mosaics as well as now lost pictures. (Mosaic from Stabii, near Pompeii) On coinage, Europa appears on two Roman republican denarii of the 1st c. BC. She doesn't seem to be represented on imperial coins. On provincial coinage, Europa riding the bull may be seen on coins of a few Cretan or Asia Minor cities, but for more than three centuries she was a major coin-type in Sidon, Phoenicia, from the Hellenistic period to the end of the Sidon mint after Severus Alexander. But is there any relation between the geographic and the mythological Europas? Homer called "Europe" the western shores of the Aegean Sea, Europe in a fully geographic sense. Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny knew very well about the mythological Europe (for Herodotus it was not mythology but an actual Phoenician princess of Tyre abducted by the Greeks, in retaliation for the abduction of Io by the Phoenicians), but these authors mentioned Europe in a geographical sense too. For Strabo and Pliny Europe is one of the three parts of the inhabited world: Europe, Asia and Africa. In 294, when Diocletian reorganized the Roman provinces, he created in the diocese of Thrace a province of Europa, with Byzantium for capital, approximately covering the European part of today's Turkey... But which ancient author ever wrote Europe, the continent, has been named after the mythological Phoenician princess? I don't see... In the middle ages, no one said "Europe". What we call Europe today, in a political sense, already existed de facto: the first European common project was probably the Crusade, with knights from all Europe under the commandment of Godfrey of Bouillon... But it wasn't called Europe back then, they used to say "Christianity". Since the Renaissance, we say Europe. Lately, 17 centuries after the last coin of Sidon, Europe riding a bull is back on coinage, on Greek 2 euros coins. She is now supposed to be a personification of Europe as an economical and political union, but in ancient times this iconic mythological figure was just related to Crete and several Phoenician cities, mostly Sidon. Please post coins of Sidon, or coins with Europe...
HADRIAN AE 22 OBVERSE: Laureate head right REVERSE: Europa riding bull right Struck at Sidon, Phoenicia, 117/118 AD 8.9g, 22mm BMC Phoenicia 225
EUROPA ( rather worn...) ROman Republic Valerius Acisculus AR Denarius 45 BCE Apollo star Europa bull Sear 469 Craw 474-1
Gordian III Gordien III (29/07/238-25/02/244) - Bronze (22mm) - Seleucia ad Calycadnus, ca 238-244 CE ΑΝΤΩΝΙΟϹ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟϹ ϹƐΒΑϹ, Buste radié, drapé et cuirassé à droite, vu par l'avant. Une contremarque sur le cou. ϹƐΛƐΥΚƐΩΝ ΤΩ ΠΡΟϹ ΤΩ ΠΡΟ, Europe assise en amazone sur un taureau bondissant à droite, tenant un voile au dessus de sa tête. Entre les pattes du taureau, un dauphin allant a droite 22 mm - 5,51 gr, Ref : RPC vol VII.2 # 2930, SNG France -, SNG von Aulock # 5843 Q
