I read an interesting essay that suggests your Selinos coin features Achelous on both sides. One as the man-faced bull, of course, but the obverse featuring Achelous as a snake and Deianeira holding him of (from Sohphocles' account).
Good point about the incomplete picture we have of pagan religions in the period just before Christianity came to the fore. The diversity of beliefs is fascinating. In the case of Egypt, there was a second/third century iteration of the god Khnum known as the horse of Coptos, a town just north of modern Luxor, which later on became identified with the horse ridden by Michael the Archangel when placed in a Christian context. Khnum's cult centers existed in Coptos (Qift), Latopolis (Esna) and Aswan. Coptos later was named Justinianopolis in the Byzantine era for a time before the Arab conquest. Not sure if the horse depicted has anything to do with Khnum, but it is interesting to postulate. Khnum was also known as the Potter, who formed man on his wheel, hence the existence of the nativist text known as the Oracle of the Potter which predicted the demise of the Greeks and the fall of Alexandria, and interestingly the return of Agathadaemon.
Quite apart from the enigmatic and intriguing reverses, the coins are all stupendous! I especially like the Domitian, what a terrific coin that is. I wonder what an ancient adherent of the agathodaimon would make of your animation . Cowboy snakes ftw!
Excellent animation! I really like the beautiful flowers that appear to come from the hindquarters of the horse
That snake riding a horse is just too fantastic to be true. Then I noticed that @TIF (who obviously has mad Photoshop skills), happened to post this tantalizing ancient curiosity on April Fools' Day. Hmmm. If I hadn't already seen snake- and cupid-towed bigas and other such whacked-out conveyances, I'd be going "hmmm" indeed, and wondering how she manages to create find this amazing stuff, none of which I've ever seen prior to its appearance in a @TIF thread. Just sayin'. Seriously, though, what I'm really sayin' is "wow". Just ... wow.
Just dawned on me: Yeah, you like snakes, and yeah, you like that BAD-BOY Elagabalus! How about BOTH on a coin? I think you have seen this as I have posted before... but it is a snake and your Dream-Emperor: RProv AE18mm 4.3g Elagabalus CE 218-222 Thrace Philippolis Moushmov 5423 Obverse: AVT K MAYP ANTΩNINOC. Reverse: [ΦIΛIΠ]ΠOΛITΩN NEΩKOPΩ[N] - Serpent entwined tripod (celebrating the Neokorus of the city along with a festival of Pythia) Raised to be a priest of the Elagabalus (Baal) cult, Antoninus, known to history as Elagabalus, was 14 years old when he was brought to Rome by his grandmother to be emperor. His exotic Eastern influences and his flamboyant sexual escapades proved to be too much for conservative Roman society, and he was executed about the time of his eighteenth birthday.
Having once lobbed a rubber snake so that it would fall from the tree beneath which @Aethelred was stooped, digging a metal detecting target, and land in front of him, and seeing his reaction, I can attest to the truth of that statement. Well, OK, he didn't quite fart flowers, but he did spout some rather florid language, and likely would've inserted a dig knife into my eyesocket, had I not stepped back from the flailing arms and flying equipment just in time.
Oooh, yes! These Etenna bronzes show a rather intimate pairing of nymph and snake. Is she kissing that snake? I think so! That's what happens when you drink too much wine (note the discarded and empty oinochoe ) PISIDIA, Etenna 1st century BCE AE chalkous, 14 mm, 2.1 gm Obv: Nymph advancing right, head left, holding coiled serpent in both hands; to left, oinochoe Rev: ET-EN Curved knife Ref: SNG Copenhagen 147. SNG Paris 1534-6.
PS- "Agathodæmon" just became my Word for the Day, so thanks for that. I'm not sure how thankful I am to have a certain Steve Miller tune stuck in my brain, where it will undoubtedly take root for 36 hours, but then again, I can think of much worse earworms to catch, and kinda like a little Steve Miller Band occasionally. At least it wasn't this. Or this.
BEAUTIFUL coins TIF!!! And as always your artistry with the, literally, crop dusting snake cowboy had me in stiches and impressed...or empress'd? Though I am shocked and disappointed...in myself. For someone whom is so commonly referred to as a cold blooded snake (my friends and family mostly) when asked to present a coin with one on it I could only think of 1 that I own!? Sure enough I looked through everything. But it's one I'm most proud of. And the only one I have with a decent provenance. It's my JC denarius! Julius Caesar 49-48BCE Denarius traveling mint: Gaul The Expatriate Collection The elephant trampling the poor horned serpent always reminds me of the lil ol man saying, "ya can't stand in the way of progress."
Right back atcha Monominusphthalmus! Love yours as well! I believe your attribution is correct. And the reverse snake is awesome. Reminds me of the RX symbol...which we get from the ancient Greeks.
But @Ryro... you have an ex-SA collection coin! One of the most desirable provenances there can be!! More seriously, I note that the snake on that JC denarius also sports the weird beardy-thingie and other strange goings-on that @TIF noted earlier. Here's my version: I mean, what exactly is going on there?!? (Ignore the fact that mine looks like a goose with the giggles.)
MACRINUS Pentassarion AE28 OBVERSE: AVT K OPEL CEVH MAKREINOC K M OPEL ANTWNEINOC - confronted busts REVERSE: VP PONTIAN-OV MARKIANO/ POLIT, Coiled serpent with radiate head Struck at Markianopolis, Moesia Inferior, Magistrate Pontianus; 217 - 218 AD 12.6g, 28mm Hr & J (2012) 6.24.22.6