Dear Friends of ancient mythology! As so often in this thread the depicted coin is only the plug serving as starting point for the actual theme. And so here too. Sadly my coin is very worn. Bu the import parts of the legends and the important attributes are still recognizable. You can see it at Wildwinds. For safety's sake I have added a pic from Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The coin: Phoenicia, Gaza, pseudo-autonomous, time of Hadrian AE 13, 3.01g, 12.86mm, 0° struck AD 131/132 Obv.: MEINΩ King Minos in short chiton stg. frontal, head l., holding in l. arm spear and and in raised right hand long branch (tree?) Rev.: Sacred tree (possibly the Sycamore where Zeus met Europa) left [ΓAZA Γ]. right E.BYP in lower r. field Phoenician Mem (symbol for Marnas, city-god of Gaza) Ref.: Yashin 312; Rosenberger 33; Meshorer 55; SNG ANS Palestine 913 var.; RPC III, 4022 (Thanks to all menbers who have helped me, especially Snegovik from FAC!) very rare, still F Pedigree: ex Coin Galleries NYC Mail Bid 22.2.1992, Lot 244 Pic from MFA Boston: Dating: Gaza has used two different systems: (1) CY = The era of Gaza, beginning with 61 BC referring to the visit of Pompeji in Palestine in September 61 BC, so a variant of the Pompejian Era. (2) EΠ = Dating according to the visit (epidemia) of Hadrian in AD 129. At the time of Hadrian often both dates can be found on coins, the 2nd usually marked by EΠI. On this coin the date is difficult to identify. But by comparing it with the descriptions in Yashin, p.72, the best match is E.BYP. E is abbreviation for EΠI, BYP is Greek 192, where the Y is a variant spelling of Greek koppa, meaning 100. Then it is 192 = AD 131/132, which I have adopted for my coin. The Γ for the 3rd epidemia of Hadrian sadly is not readable.. Mythology: It is well possible, that there are actually two different persons named Minos: Minos I the Elder, the grandfather, and Minos II the Younger, the grandson. Evidence for that is the fact, that we have two quite different characteristics which seem nearly incompatible. But it is possible too that we have only one king Minos where the later myths - depicting a rather dubious character - arose from the Attic viewpoint which - for reasons we will hear later - was interested in not allowing Minos to escape unscathed. For reasons of clarity and comprehensibility I follow Hederich and Roscher and will split Minos in two different persons. Minos the Elder: According to Homer Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa. He was the first of this name and should not be confused with Minos the Younger, his grandson. He ruled in Apollonia on Crete. Wether he for himself originated in Crete or came from outside on the island is disputable. In any case he was king of Crete and married with Itone daughter of Lykos. By Itone he was father of Lykastos and Akakallis with who Apollo and Hermes fell in love. He was famous for his fair and just laws by which he ruled his people. This laws he will have received from Zeus himself. To meet Zeus every nine years he climbed to a deep cave which should have been in the Ida mountains. When he died on his tomb was engraved ΜΙΝΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΔΙΟΣ ΤΑΦΟΣ. As time goes on the name of Minos vanished and only ΤΟΥ ΔΙΟΣ ΤΑΦΟΣ remains. Therefore the Cretans claimed that Zeus was buried here (Hederich). After his death because of his justness he was enthroned as judge of the dead together with his brothers Rhadamanthys and Aiakos. But he was the most distinguished of this three who has to decide in the case of disputes. He is enthroned with a sceptre in his hand and judges over the deeds of the shadows. The evils are sent to the Tartaros, the good to the Elysian fields. An urn in his hand contained their fate. However there are some who don't hold him for so just because he has pursued Britomartis with his passion. Britomartis was a nymph and huntress on Crete loved by Artemis in particular. Minos fell in love with her and chased her over the mountains and through the oak woods. After nine month of hunting he has catched her on a cliff of the Dikte mountains but she could wrest from him and jumped from the top into the sea where fishermen saved her with their nets. Artemis raised her to a goddess. But this could well have been Minos the Younger who was known for stalking young girls. Minos the Younger: Minos the Younger was the son of Lykastes and so the grandson of Minos the Elder, albeit some are holding him for a son of Zeus too. In any case it was this Minos who has as wife Pasiphae, daughter of Helios. His children were Androgeos, Deukalion, Glaukos, Phaidra, Ariadne and some others. As a sign that his reign was given to him by the gods he claimed that the gods always were fulfilling his requests. And he asked Poseidon for a bull to make a sacrifice. Poseidon fulfilled his request and sent him an extraordinary beautiful bull raising from the sea. But Minos retained this bull and sacrificed an inferior one. In revenge for this fraud Poseidon arose in Pasiphae a passionate love to his bull. After being banned from Athens the famous artist and inventor Daidalos has found asylum at Minos. Daidalos made a wooden mock-up of a cow so that Pasiphae could unify with the bull and so Minotauros was born, a monster with human body and the head of a bull. To lock him up Daidalos constructed the famous labyrinth. When Minos discovered that he was involved in the matchmaking he enclosed him and his son Ikaros in a tower. But by making wings Daidalos and Ikaros succeeded in flying away. At this time Androgeos, son of Minos, was in Athens to take part in prize games. Athens was ruled at that time by king Aigaios. Because Androgeos won all competitions the sons of Pallas joined him. Pallas was a son of Aigaios, once expelled from Athens by his brother, Therefore Aigaios feared for his throne and let kill him. That murder led to a war with Minos. Minos came with a large fleet from Crete to Greece and besieged at first the city of Nisos where Skylla, daughter of king Nisos, helped him to conquer the city (This Skylla is not the Odyssean Skylla!). But he doesn't succeed in conquering Athens. So he invoked the gods for help and they sent starvation and plague and the Athenians had to surrender. As punishment for the murder the Athenians had to sent every year seven youths and seven girls to the Minotauros who devoured them until Theseus made an end to this horrible tribute. Minos ruled in Knossos but by his powerful naval power over large parts of the Mediterranean too. So he might become the founder of Gaza which was called after him Minoa. He was infamous for stalking young girls. But Pasiphae out of jealousy has poisened his sperm so that vipers and skorpions came out and all his favourites died a painful death. It was only Prokris who could survive. The fact that Daidalos has insulted him Minos could never forget. So finally he started with a mighty fleet to search for Daidalos, who since then lived at king Kokalos on Sicily. Minos has conceived a trick: He carried along a triton shell and promised a big reward to whom who succeeded in dragging a linen thread through the shell. When he came to king Kokalos in Kaminos on Sicily he gave the shell to Daidalos. And he drilled a small hole in its top, brush the helices of the shell with honey and sent an ant through the helices with a silk thread on which was knotted a linen thread. There Minos recognized that he has found Daidalos and demanded to deliver Daidalos. But the daughters of Kokalos refused to hand over Daidalos because he had made them elaborate toys and when Minos was sitting in the bath they suffocated him with hot water vapour. Minos was splendidly buried and found his final repose in the temple of Aphrodite in Kaminos. Later he was brought back to Crete. Background: Minos was a famous mythological Cretan king, after whom the archaeologists rightly have named the Cretan culture from the 3rd century to the end of the 2nd century as Minoic. Wether Minos actually was the name of a king or was a kind of king's title, because there were several kings bearing the name Minos, is not clarified definitely. In antiquity he was seen as ideal type of king (referring naturally to Minos the Elder!), who by ever recurring dialogues with Zeus was educated to ethical competency which was reflected in his legislation for his people. As location of this meetings mostly the Zeus grotto on the Ida mountains is mentioned. Minos was in posession of a large fleet and is hold as first ruler of the sea. He succeeded in expelling the Karic pirates from the Cyclades. He colonized many islands and enthroned his sons as governors. He not only ruled over the Aegeis but many foundings named Minoa point to regions outside the Cyclades too. The mythology of Minos preserves the memory of the importance of the Minoic culture for Crete and Greece. But a complete general view is not possible. So f.e. no trace of the feminine Phaiakian-like character of the Minoic world could be found (Pauly). The campaigns against Attica or Sicily don't need to be only mythological inventions. They are evidence for the importance of the thalassocracy which doesn't need a closed realm. Athens, the great adversary of Crete, claimed Daidalos, the ingenious artist who surely was an Cretan figure, for itself and tried too to devaluate the reputation of his high justice by enhancing his cruel deeds. An attempt which in the end was not successful, proved by his role as judge of the dead. (Pauly). Minos and Gaza: Gaza praised itself on the close relation to Minos. According to Stephanos of Byzantium Minos, Aiakos and Rhadamanthys made an expedition from Crete to Phoenicia, captured Gaza and named it Minoa albeit there is the claim that Minoa is originated from Aramaic 'marlu (harbour). The connection to Greece is supported by the takeover of the Attic standard of coinage. The depicted coin shows on its rev. a sacred tree. According to Yashin it is the evergreen sycamore of Gortyna on Crete. Under this tree - referring to the myth - Zeus has unified with Europa. And Marnas, the city-god of Gaza, is said to be a concretion with Zeus. Meant is Zeus Kretagenes, the Cretan Zeus. History of Art: I have added the pic of Minos from Michelangelo's wall painting in the Capella Sistina. Surprisingly Minos is entwined by a snake. Here is the explanation: Baigio da Cesena, a papal master of ceremonies, criticized Michelangelo's work saying that nude figures had no place in such a sacred place, and that the paintings would be more at home in a public tavern. When Baigio complained to the Pope the pontiff explained that he had no jurisdiction over hell and that the portrait would have to remain. Michelangelo included da Cesena in the Last Judgement as Minos, one of the three judges of the underworld. Michelangelo has depicted Minos with ass-ears and wrapped in serpents coils. The coils indicate to what circle of hell the damned are destined. The serpent's bite on the genitals of Minos (da Cesena) illustrates Michelangelo's disdain for the Cardinal and of course Baigio must have been furious. The second pic shows the so-called throne of Minos in Knossos. Sources: (1) Homer, Odyssee XI, 568-571 (2) Apollodor, Bibliotheka III, 3-20, 197-211; IV, 7-15 (3) Ovid, Metamorphoses VII 456-490; VIII, 6-292 (4) Stephanos von Byzanz, Ethnika Literature: (1) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches Mythologisches Lexikon (2) Karl Kerenyi, Die Mythologie der Griechen (3) Robert von Ranke-Graves, Griechische Mythologie (4) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (5) Der Kleine Pauly (6) Chaim Yashin, From Ascalon to Raphia, 2007 Online: (1) Wikipedia (2) http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Last-Judgement.html Best regards
