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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ancientnut, post: 2440854, member: 73212&quot;]River gods are represented on Greek coins in several ways. The most interesting and popular type is the man-faced bull. The term “man-headed bull” is sometimes used, but since he is nearly always shown with horns and large bull’s ears, the face being his only aspect with the features of a man, “man-faced” is the more correct term.</p><p><br /></p><p>Who is this man-faced bull? Most people assume that he represents a local river god in most of the cities which struck coins with his image, e.g. Gelas in Gela or Amenanos in Katane. However, there is at least one scholar who maintains that:</p><p><br /></p><p>“…the man-headed bull on coins of Gela and elsewhere represents always Achelous and not a local river-god.” (<i>Jenkins, The Coinage of Gela, 1970, page 165, note 1, citing an unpublished work by Hans Peter Isler</i>)</p><p><br /></p><p>ACHELOUS</p><p><br /></p><p>Achelous was the original river god, named for the river Achelous, the longest in Greece. It is about 150 miles in length, forming the boundary between Epirus and Thessaly in the North, continuing as the boundary between Akarnania and Aitolia, before emptying into the Ionian Sea. The Greeks perhaps derived the legend of Achelous from Egypt and some describe him as a second Nilus. However, a bull was not the only form he took.</p><p><br /></p><p>“…the Greek Achelous…was not essentially a bull-deity…the bull form [relates] to the combat between Herakles and the river-god, being the form momentarily adopted by Achelous in the various metamorphoses which he underwent.” (<i>Jenkins, op. cit., page 165</i>)</p><p><br /></p><p>This “combat” between Herakles and Achelous was for possession of the maiden Deianeira. It is an early myth, dramatized by Euripides in his play Trachiniae, or The Women of Trachis, first performed c 450 BC. In her opening speech Deianeira describes the “various metamorphoses” of Achelous:</p><p><br /></p><p>“…I had as a wooer a river…Achelous, who came in three shapes…at some times manifest as a bull, at others as a darting, coiling serpent, and again at others with a man’s trunk and a bull’s head; and from his shaggy beard there poured streams of water from his springs.” (<i>Lines 9-14, translated by Hugh Lloyd-Jones, 1994</i>)</p><p><br /></p><p>It is perhaps curious that these manifestations are as bull, snake, and <i>BULL</i>-headed <i>MAN</i>. They don’t include the man-faced bull seen on coins. Herakles emerged victorious from the fight and Deianeira became his wife.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another object seen frequently on both Greek and Roman coins arose from the same myth. During the violent struggle, Herakles tore a horn from the head of Achelous, which was eventually transformed into the original cornucopia or “horn-of-plenty”.</p><p><br /></p><p>ACHELOUS ON COINS</p><p><br /></p><p>The only known coin depicting the battle of Herakles and Achelous was struck in the early 5th century BC in Phaselis, Lycia (BMC Lycia, Pamphylia, and Pisidia, plate XVI, 5). A family connection may account for this coin: the founder of Phaselis was the brother of the founder of Gela, where the man-faced bull is a prevalent 5th century type.</p><p><br /></p><p>Probably the earliest coin showing Achelous is this incuse issue:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://manfacedbullsar.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/rhegbnf5-96g.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>1. Rhegion, Bruttium, AR stater, c 510 BC.</p><p><br /></p><p>By 460 BC the river god was appearing on coins throughout the Greek world, with a concentration in Italy and Sicily. The most constant occurrence of the type is in Neapolis, Campania, where a man-faced bull is the reverse type on didrachms from c 460 BC to c 240 BC:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.sixbid.com/images/auction_images/2770/2337676l.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>2. Neapolis, Campania, AR didrachm, c 275-250 BC</p><p>Goldberg auction 91, June 7, 2016, lot 1703.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are coins depicting MFBs from three representative cities in Italy and Sicily:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.cngcoins.com/photos/big/161406.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>3. Laos, Lucania, AR stater, c 490-470 BC. Complete figures of Achelous are on BOTH the obverse and reverse of this rare issue. See this thread for additional information on the type:</p><p><a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/man-faced-bull-times-two.275086/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/man-faced-bull-times-two.275086/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/man-faced-bull-times-two.275086/</a></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://nomosag.com/source/images/auctions/12/image00025.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>4. Gela, Sicily, AR tetradrachm, c 450-440 BC. An example of the forepart of the MFB, the prevalent reverse type of Gela tetradrachms from c 480-405 BC.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.cngcoins.com/photos/enlarged/98000355.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>5. Katane, Sicily, AR tetradrachm, c 461-450 BC. The obverse is described as “River god Amenanos”, but there is no definitive evidence of this and it might have represented Achelous.</p><p><br /></p><p>Part 2 will discuss river gods represented as other than MFBs.</p><p>Note: Coins 1 and 2 are not in my collection; coins 3, 4, and 5 are.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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