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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ed Snible, post: 2786546, member: 82322&quot;]There were only three named gorgons.&nbsp; Reid is almost certainly correct that we are unlikely to see Medusa&#039;s two sisters on coins.&nbsp; They weren&#039;t important.&nbsp; There was also a belief that Medusa got her snakes from a curse by Athena.&nbsp; The sisters would not have been cursed.&nbsp; (Ovid believed this.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin image might be more metaphorical than an actual depiction of a monster.&nbsp; For example, it might represent the aegis that Athena wore and thus her symbolic protection of the city.&nbsp; Of course, Athena&#039;s aegis was a gift from Perseus and made from the Medusa&#039;s head.&nbsp; Yet elsewhere Zeus has the aegis as a baby.</p><p><br /></p><p>Back in the 1950s J. H. Croon noticed that many of the mints that struck &quot;gorgon&quot; types were near natural hot springs.&nbsp; A hot spring may seem to be an entrance to Hades ... which Homer said has a phantom gorgon.&nbsp; Medusa?&nbsp; I am not sure.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coins with gorgons started in the 520s BC if not earlier, and kept going until 270 AD.&nbsp; The Greek legends varied from city to city and the coins were not just struck by Greeks.&nbsp; Perhaps everyone knew the story we know today.&nbsp; Perhaps some die cutters just thought it was a scary mask and didn&#039;t even know the story.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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