Dear Friends of ancient mythology! Here I have the next mythological interesting coin. I know its conservation is not exceeding F+ but in EF this type is hardly affordable. It is said this type is extremely rare, only about a Dozen known! The Coin: Thrace, Mesambria, Gordian III & Tranquillina, AD 241-244 AE 27, 13.2g, 26.78mm, 180° obv. AVT K M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC AV CEB / TPANKVΛΛIN (AV ligate) Confronted busts of Gordian III, draped and laureate, r., and Tranquillina, draped and diademed, l. rev. [MECAM] - BPIANΩN Two Kuretes, helmeted, in short chiton and boots, performing the Pyrrhic dance. Standing turned away, but looking at each other, holding each a round shield above the head and beating with short swords against it. ref. Varbanov 4186; Karajatov (2001) 111; SNG Fitzwilliam 1560 very rare, F+, dark green Patina Mythology: This coin leads us to the great Creation Myths of the Olympic gods. Like many others Zeus was the son of Rhea and Kronos. Because Kronos frightened to be displaced by his children he was gorging them. When he must spew them out because Rhea has given him a stone wrapped up in a napkin to gorge she escaped with the little Zeus to Crete where she hides him in a cave of the Ida Mountains. To mask the crying of the infant to Kronos, the Kuretes were performing a clanking weapon dance in front of the cave with shields and swords. So Zeus was saved. Where the Kuretes came and who they are is not absolute clear. Sometimes it is said they are autochthon, sometimes the children of Rhea or of the Idaic Daktyles. Usually they were 2 or 3 Kuretes but sometimes 9, 10 or at least 52! In historic times the cult of the Kuretes was known in whole Greece in connection with the cult of Rhea. Its ceremonies are mainly the perfomance of the Pyrrhic Dance (Greek pyrrhiche) by priests to the companionship of hymns and flute musique. This should simulate the original deeds of the Kuretes. A problem is arising from the fact that this dance has a strong simularity to the dances of the Korybantes. These are known as attendants of the Great Mother Kybele. In the beginning these two were strictly differentiated; the dance of the Korybantes was much more orgiastic, the dance of the Kuretes more moderate. But with the diffusion of the Kybele cult to Greece both are mixed together. Therefore it is difficult to discriminate between the various names under which these deities appear. A plausible theory from Georg Kaibel, Göttingen 1901, is seeing the Kuretes together with the Korybantes, the Kabires, the Idaic Daktyles and Telchines only as names for the same entities at different times and different places. Kabel suggests that they have a phallic meaning too and that they were in the beginning primitive fertility deities which have sunk to an indeterminate and subordinate position due to the development and formalization of the greek religion. So in historic times they have survived only as half divine, half demonic beings which were worshipped only in connection to the various forms of the great Goddess of Nature. Background: Kuretes = 'Youth, young warrior', a demonized collective of a primitive 'male society' with hoplitic and artistic-orchestral orientation in the region of Greece and Asia Minor, as armed attendance of the Anatolic Mothergoddess a male equivalent to the Amazones. On Crete companions of the Minoic Birth-Godess Diktynna, Parhedroi of the Mother of Mountains Rhea, obstetrician of Zeus Kretagenes, they protect as Parastatai the holy act of birth by the apotropaic noise of their ritual weapon dances. The dict. Hymnos of Zeus appreciate them expressly in this function. It is allowed to equalize them with the 'daimones', which the Cretic Zeus as 'μεγιστος κουρος' leads on his procession through Dikte. This is suitable to the fact that the Kuretes on Crete are regarded as protectors of rural fertility and culture and act in this character as oath gods of Cretic city contracts. In contrast to this the epitheta 'philopaigmones', 'orchesteres' and 'chalkaspides' indicate the martial-ecstatic moment of the Pyrrhiche or Prylis (to Lycian prulija = war) and refer, like the bronze cymbal of Ida, to the cult milieu of a military strong Cretic-Minoic Youth-God which could be found in Kadmos or Herakles too. The ecstasis is a bridge to the demonic flute players and cult dancers of the Anatolic Kybele, the Korybantes, and other essential equal mythic-demonic groups like Anakes, Daktyles, Dioskures or Kabires with initiation and expiation character. As an addition a pic of the Ideon Andron Cave at the foot of the Psiloritis on Crete which is said to be one of the caves where Zeus was hidden. http://www.crete.tournet.gr/Ideon_Andron_H_hle-si-1120-de.jsp Notes: Parhedroi = demons, magic helpers Parastatai = attendants, helpers μεγιστος κουρος= the divine child philopaigmones = who love jokes and playing orchesteres = dancers chalkaspides = with bronze shields Sources: (1) Immisch, Kureten (in Roschers Lexikon) (2) Robert von Ranke -Graves, Greek Mythology (3) Der kleine Pauly, Kureten (4) Benjamin Hederich, Curetes (5) Karl Kerenyi, Die Mythologie der Griechen Best regards
I've owned three of these in the last 30+ years, including one magnificent EF+ example which as far as I can tell was the finest known specimen. Sadly I did not keep it, nor could I find a photo. Checking the archives it has not shown up again, so it has a good home! Below is the example I currently have:
Nice! I'd really love to have one of these someday. This one that I picked up last year shows two Curetes flanking Diktynna and baby Zeus. Her identity on the coin is unambiguous, but in any case, the legend on the reverse names her. What it is that she holds in her left hand, however, seems uncertain... I've seen it referred to as a javelin, an arrow, or just "uncertain object". TRAJAN Very Rare. AR Drachm. 2.64g, 18.3mm. CRETE, Koinon of Crete (issued at Rome for Crete?), AD 116/7. RPC III 13; Woytek, pp.419-24, 1. O: IMP CAES NER TRAIA [OPTIM AVG GER DAC PART], laureate head of Trajan to right, with drapery on his left shoulder. R: ΔΙΚΤΥΝ[ΝΑ] / ΚΡΗΤ, Diktynna seated left on rock, holding javelin (or drawing arrow from quiver) with one hand and holding infant Zeus in the other; to left and right stand Curetes (kouretes) armed with swords and shields.
Great coin. Interesting reverse. Informative post. I was not familiar with this type. Yours is a pleasing example.
Hi zumbly! Indeed, an interesting mythological reverse. The fact that you mentioned little Zeus led me to do some research on Diktynna. And here is my result: Diktynna is another name for the Cretan goddess Britomartis, which was common among the Kydons in the west of the island. Britomartis was her name in the eastern part. She was considered a daughter of Zeus and Karme, so she cannot hold little Zeus in her arms. The most complete and oldest source of her myths is Kallimacho's hymns on Artemis: Among the nymphs that Artemis loved most was Britomartis. King Minos burned in hot love for her and pursued her through the forests and meadows of Crete. Just as he was about to grab her, she jumped from the high rock of Mons Dikte into the sea. But she was rescued by fishermen who stretched out her nets. Actually Britomaris was a Cretan nature deity and only after the immigration of the Dorians, who brought their Artemis with them, she became the companion of the now higher goddess. Sometimes she was also identified with her and portrayed as a hunter with bow and arrow. But originally she was a protector goddess of the fishermen, an old Cretan nymph and fisher goddess to whom the nets were sacred. Your Trajan coin is discussed in detail in several places. Some assumed that the little child was an indication that she had also played the role of Eileithya, an obstetrician goddess. To Britomartis was also holy the mastic tree, which was a symbol of fertility. A name for the child itself is not known. It is the representation of a so-called Kourotrophos (= feeding a small child). Kourothrophos is an epiclesis for a number of gods. So one will have to compare it here with the Artemis Kourotrophos. The Nereids were known in Crete for being particularly fond of doing good to children. So the reverse is a representation of a peculiar Cretan local legend. The object that the goddess holds on the coin will most probably have something to do with fishing. Best regards Jochen
Macrinus Selukia ad Calycadnum, Cilicia 3 Kuretes ( korybantes ) banging swords on shields around infant Zeus on throne.
I've seen a coin yesterday which shows Gordian III and Tranquillina on obverse. As for the reverse, it reads : CAMOCATEON. I didn't buy it yet. What does that mean on reverse? Thank you.
That is Samosata in Mesopotamia. Literally it means "(issued) by the people of Samosata" (Genitive Plural). Best regards
