Ancients => *sigh* => I'm bored => Post your favourite "Myth-Coin"

Ancients => *sigh* => I'm bored => Post your favourite "Myth-Coin"

Ummm, I guess it could be Greek, or Roman ... ummm or any legit myth ...

=> Let's see 'em, brothers and sis!!

Cheers

 

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"Arethusa"

=> yup ... ya gotta love the ol' Arethusa tale, eh? (man, if you can't even hide in the clouds, then "tag", you're "it")

 

I haven't posted this coin of Sextus Pompey in quite some time, but it has a very interesting mythological scene on it:



"A stream of fire burst forth from Etna. This stream, so the story goes, flowing over the countryside, drew near a certain city of the Sicilians. Most men, thinking of their own safety, took to flight; but one of the youths, seeing that his father, now advanced in years, could not escape and was being overtaken by the fire, lifted him up and carried him. Hindered no doubt by the additional weight of his burden, he too was overtaken. And now let us observe the mercy shown by the Gods towards good men. For we are told that the fire spread round that spot in a ring and only those two men were saved, so that the place is still called the Place of the Pious, while those who had fled in haste, leaving their parents to their fate, were all consumed."

Octavian had always boasted of his own piety which pushed him to prosecute the murderers of his adoptive father, Julius Caesar. With the representation of the son risking his life to save his father, Sextus is now formally claiming this piety towards his own parents. He represents himself, exactly like Octavian, as a son who wants to follow in the footsteps of his murdered father, Pompey the Great. Pompey presided over the Mediterranean for some time as claimed on this coin, represented by Neptune, the master of the Sea. But he did not have the allegiance of all of his captains, evidenced by the fact that they did not adhere to his orders or honor the truce agreement with the triumviri.

Sextus Pompey AR Denarius. Uncertain mint in Sicily (Catania?), 42-40 BC. MAG PIVS IMP ITER, bare head of Pompey Magnus right; capis behind, lituus before / Neptune standing left, holding aplustre in right hand, resting right foot on prow, between the Catanaean brothers, Anapias and Amphinomus, carrying their parents on their shoulders, PRÆF above, CLAS ET ORÆ MARIT EX S C in two lines in exergue. Crawford 511/3a; Sydenham 1344; Sear 334; RRC 511/3a; BMCRR Sicily 7; Pompeia 27; Catalli 2001, 824. 3.96g, 20mm, 11h. Virtually Mint State. "

 

Herakles strangling the Nemean lion...

 

L CENSORINUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS MARCIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: Laureate head of Apollo right
REVERSE: L CENSOR, the satyr, Marsyas, standing left with wineskin over shoulder; behind him, column surmounted by draped figure (Minerva?)
Rome 82 BC
3.66g, 17mm
Cr363/1d, Marcia 24

Marsyas was an expert player on the double-piped reed instrument known as the aulos. In the anecdotal account, he found the instrument on the ground where it had been tossed aside with a curse by its inventor, Athena, after the other gods made sport of how her cheeks bulged when she played. The 5th-century poet Telestes doubted that virginal Athena could have been motivated by such vanity,but in the 2nd century AD, on the Acropolis of Athens itself, the voyager Pausanias saw "a statue of Athena striking Marsyas the Silenos for taking up the flutes that the goddess wished to be cast away for good."

In the contest between Apollo and Marsyas, the terms stated that the winner could treat the defeated party any way he wanted. Since the contest was judged by the Muses, Marsyas naturally lost and was flayed alive in a cave near Celaenae for his hubris to challenge a god. Apollo then nailed Marsyas' skin to a pine tree

 

Last representation of Venus on a roman coin...

 

Why, I just happen to have an Arethusa. Have I shown it to you before?


I have a couple of new purchases with a very interesting deity but I haven't photographed them yet and the writeup will take some time. Maybe this weekend

 

Another mythical creature which is well-represented in my collection in the winged boar. One of my collecting goals is to have the largest assemblage of Pigasi and I'm well on my way

The purpose of the iconography is speculative but may come from the legend of the Hus Klazomenaios, a giant winged sow which supposedly terrorized Klazomenai (Ionia).

[Aelian, On Animals 12. 38 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.)] :
"I have heard that on Klazomenai [and island west of Smyrna] there was a Sow with wings, and it ravaged the territory of Klazomenai. And Artemon records this in his Annals of Klazomenai. That is why there is a spot named and celebrated as `The Place of the Winged Sow,’ and it is famous. But if anyone regards this as myth, let him do so." -- from http://www.theoi.com/Ther/HusKlazomenaios.html

My Klazomenai squadron:


And a couple of flying pigs from nearby regions... a Samos drachm and an obol from Rhodos:




There are at least five more cities/regions which issued winged boar coins and I hope to find at least one of each. (Dear Stevex6, if you die before me can I have your Kisthene nude hoplite/Pigasus? I'll say nice things about you, promise )

The Huns Klazomenaios legend as explanation of the iconography doesn't quite add up. Why would they celebrate a terroristic pig?

I have another theory on the birth of Pigasus:

​

 

How about the Gorgon:

Descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature and occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair made of living, venomous snakes, as well as a horrifying visage that turned those who beheld her to stone. Traditionally, while two of the Gorgons were immortal, Stheno and Euryale, their sister Medusa was not, and she was slain by the demigod and hero Perseus

APOLLONIA PONTICA AR Drachm
OBVERSE: Gorgoneian facing with snakes for hair and a protruding tongue REVERSE: An anchor flanked by letter A and a crayfish, which represents the minting city of Apollonia, the major fifth century BC Greek colony on the west coast of the Black Sea, modern Sozopol in Bulgaria
Struck at Apollonia 450-400 BC
3.13g, 14-15mm
BMC IX, Black Sea 150-151

 

Absolutely out-standing coins, folks!! (I am very proud to collect ancient coins with the likes o' you dudes!!)

SIDE-NOTE => ummm, hey TIf ... I thought that you ended up scoring yourself a nude guy & flying pig coin? (or am I mistaken?) ...

Cheers

 

Helios was described as a handsome god crowned with the shining aureole of the Sun, who drove the chariot of the sun across the sky each day.

CARIAN ISLANDS, Rhodes.
AR Drachm
188-170 B.C.
3.16 grams, 17 mm.
Obv: Radiant head of Helios facing right.
Rev: Rose with P to left and O to right, AINHTΩP (Ainetor magistrate) above, all within an incuse square.
Grade: aEF, with attractive cabinet tone.

 

In Roman mythology, Faustulus was the shepherd who found the infants Romulus and Remus, who were being suckled by a she-wolf, known as Lupa, on the Palatine Hill. He, with his wife, Acca Larentia, raised the children. In some versions of the myth, Larentia was a prostitute. The name Faustulus was later claimed by a Roman family, one of whom minted a coin showing Faustulus with the twins and she-wolf. Sextus Pompeius Fostlus issued a silver denarius in about 140 BCE that showed, on the reverse, the twins being suckled by a dangerous wolf with the shepherd Faustulus to their left.

SEXTUS POMPEIUS FOSTLUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS POMPEIA AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Head of "Minerva or Pallas" (personification of Rome) with winged helmet, earrings and necklace, looking to the right. Below the chin, it is the "X" (although its value then was 16 aces) and behind the bust is a small jar.
REVERSE: FOSTuLVS left and Sextus. Pompeius. to the right of the field. She-wolf suckling the twins Romulus and Remus. Behind Ruminal fig tree is represented with three birds in their branches. On the left, the pastor Faustulus figure in an attitude of admiration for the wonder he sees. ROMA in ex
Struck at Rome 137 BC
3.63g, 19.5mm
Cr235/1a; Syd 461; Pompeia 1

 

The myth that will forever consume the thoughts of humanity: afterlife. Constantine ascends to heaven in a quadriga as God stretches out his hand to greet him.

 

Great idea for a thread Steve - loving the stories and coins everyone.

 

Zeus is the father of gods & men. Wikipedia says he is God of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, justice, etc. Several of his children are famous myths including: Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Dionysus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, and others..

THESSALIAN LEAGUE
THESSALI, Larissa
AR Stater, 196-146 B.C.
6.14 grams, 21 mm
Obv: Laureate head of Zeus right crowned with oak
Rev: Athena Itonia advancing right brandishing a horizontal spear in right hand and shield in left hand. ΘΕΣΣΑ to left, ΛΩΝ to right, ΦIΛ-ΩN* above, and ποΛοΧοΣ below magistrates Hippolochos and Philon
Grade: Well centered about EF with gentle toning and attractive obverse field flow lines.
Other: Good style similar to Sear 2232, BMC 3,34. BCD Thessaly II 869.2 [Double Victoriatus = 1.5 Denarii].
Ex La Galerie Numismatique (Heritage Jan 2013) lot 61035 From Eye-Appealing Coins April 2013

 

I wouldn't agree it's a myth, but to each his own.

 

Everyone should recognize this mythy critter.

 

I'm not suggesting there isn't an afterlife by using the word myth. The word once had a very different meaning, but somehow it's devolved into a suggestion of something false, or at least unprovable.

I prefer the older interpretation of the word as, "a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events."