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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ed Snible, post: 3196370, member: 82322&quot;]Nice Medusa bronze, [USER=81896]@Deacon Ray[/USER] !&nbsp; Did Wayne tell you the mint?&nbsp; Seven different mints struck this type and there are several different denominations.&nbsp; It is difficult to complete the whole set because the example from the mint of Aï Khanoum is unique.&nbsp; Most specimens are Antioch or less frequently Sardes.&nbsp; Mints can be deduced by edge characteristics, control marks, size, and weight.&nbsp; I have been trying to collect one of each mint.</p><p><br /></p><p>In 1825 E. Q. Visconti identified the winged head as probably Medusa, refuting earlier scholars who believed the head depicted Seleukos himself.&nbsp;&nbsp; Visconti saw the head as a woman.&nbsp; He believed the type refers to the founding of Antioch: “Mount Silphius had an old high altar at which it was said that Perseus honored the father of Zeus when returning from his expedition against the Gorgons.&nbsp; Seleukos founded a temple of Zeus Bottiaios venerated by the Macedonians in the same place where Perseus had left a monument of passage”.&nbsp; Visconti&#039;s idea was initially ignored but Ernest Babelon really got behind it.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin dealer Matt Kruezer believes that the head depicts Alexander, and that the wings symbolize divinity.&nbsp; It’s possible that ancient people themselves were confused about who was depicted on this type.&nbsp; The die cutters’ intention could have been a deified Alexander.&nbsp; The common people, in regions without a tradition of using wings to signal post-human divinity, could have seen a coin depicting Medusa.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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