I had a wonderful holiday in Greece. I went to the beautiful island of Crete and thought about a coin to show here that fits nicely with my vacation. That became this tetradrachm of Nero, with the god Zeus on the reverse. According to Greek mythology, Zeus was born on Crete. Two caves high in the Cretan mountains contest the honour of being known as the birthplace of the greatest god of ancient Greece: the Dikteon cave and the Ideon cave. I visited the first one, very impressive. Certainly a nice place for a god to stay There is no information describing exactly where Zeus was born, and each cave has its own adherents. This is the coin. Maybe you have a 'holiday coin' to share with us ? Nero Billon Tetradrachm. Alexandria. Year 13 = 66/67 AD. 12,77 g. Obv. NEΡΩ KΛAV KAIΣ ΣEB ΓEΡ AV, radiate bust of Nero left wearing aegis Rev. LIΓ to left / ΔIOΣ OΛYMΠIOY, laureate head of Zeus Olympius right. RPC I 5297
Very nice coin! I spent 4 days in Crete once a few years back while waiting to get on a navy ship. I loved the area and the food was amazing!
That's a nice example, congrats. I've never bought a coin when I was away. About the only thing I ever bought was souvenir silver & copper rounds at Pearl Harbor in 1997 & some ghost towns I have been too over my lifetime.
One of the best of that type I have seen Marsman, glad you had a great holiday I was also very impressed with Crete when I visited a few years back. My holiday coin when in London 2017 I bought this London mint Constantine camp gate.
Glad you came to Crete to not only enjoy our food, weather and environment but also the beautiful culture! Not that many tourists do that. I am not from that area of Greece but I have been to Crete probably around 30 times. Here a coin from Crete, with ofcourse the bull, I am sure many people know that part of mythology. King Minos received from Poseidon a beautiful white bull, expecting that he would sacrifice it to the gods. But he didn't and used an inferior bull for sacrifice. Poseidon was angry and caused the wife of Minos, Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull. She gave birth to the famous minotaur, half-human, half-bull. Crete, Gortyna. Bronze coin (85–82 B.C.) Obverse: Head of Hermes left, wearing petasos. Reverse: Bull butting left; caduceus above; in exergue: ΓΟΡΤ; all within circle of dots. Reference: SNG Cop. 461 Weight: 2.22g Size: 13.5mm Very rare type, but extremely rare with Hermes looking left.
