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Themistokles: The First Portrait Coin in History or a Very Drunk Blacksmith?
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<p>[QUOTE="Terence Cheesman, post: 6369528, member: 86498"]Magnesia ad Meandrum Ar Tetradrachm 282-225 BC Struck in the name and types of Alexander the Great. Obv, Head of Herakles right beardless wearing lion skin headdress. Rv. Zeus Aetophoros seated left. Price 2020 Vadam AJN 30 7-29-2 This coin. 17.21 grms 30 mm Photo by W. Hansen[ATTACH=full]1252117[/ATTACH]I tend to be a little bit conservative when discussing portraits because one of the things we tend to over look is that the gods generally have either an adjunct object or some form of familial animal. Thus Zeus with his beard thunderbolt and eagle can be distinguished from Poseidon with his trident and dolphin. The early portraits also had these adjuncts however even though these portraits appropriated adjuncts of gods they made certain that their image in no way resembled the god whose adjunct they had just taken. Alexander in both portraits had the horn of Ammon and on one an elephant head headdress. The horn of Ammon was associated with the god Zeus a bearded deity so that would not be confused with that of Alexander. Ptolemy wore the aegis usually associated with Athena and again little chance of mistaking him for her. Demetrios and Seleukos both used bull horns an adjunct unknown to Alexander. These adjuncts are important as they allowed the the largely illiterate population to distinguish who it was that they were looking at and this proctice continued into the Medieval period. eg why does St John the evangelist usually has an eagle nearby .[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Terence Cheesman, post: 6369528, member: 86498"]Magnesia ad Meandrum Ar Tetradrachm 282-225 BC Struck in the name and types of Alexander the Great. Obv, Head of Herakles right beardless wearing lion skin headdress. Rv. Zeus Aetophoros seated left. Price 2020 Vadam AJN 30 7-29-2 This coin. 17.21 grms 30 mm Photo by W. Hansen[ATTACH=full]1252117[/ATTACH]I tend to be a little bit conservative when discussing portraits because one of the things we tend to over look is that the gods generally have either an adjunct object or some form of familial animal. Thus Zeus with his beard thunderbolt and eagle can be distinguished from Poseidon with his trident and dolphin. The early portraits also had these adjuncts however even though these portraits appropriated adjuncts of gods they made certain that their image in no way resembled the god whose adjunct they had just taken. Alexander in both portraits had the horn of Ammon and on one an elephant head headdress. The horn of Ammon was associated with the god Zeus a bearded deity so that would not be confused with that of Alexander. Ptolemy wore the aegis usually associated with Athena and again little chance of mistaking him for her. Demetrios and Seleukos both used bull horns an adjunct unknown to Alexander. These adjuncts are important as they allowed the the largely illiterate population to distinguish who it was that they were looking at and this proctice continued into the Medieval period. eg why does St John the evangelist usually has an eagle nearby .[/QUOTE]
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Themistokles: The First Portrait Coin in History or a Very Drunk Blacksmith?
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