Shanna Schmidt joins me to discuss five extraordinary ancient coins. We discuss five coins:
Silver stater of Gortyna on the Greek island of Crete.
Gortyna. Circa 330-270 BCE. Stater. Europa seated half-right in plane tree, leaning her right hand on branch and propping her head on her left. The reverse side shows a bull. Once upon a time, Zeus fell in love with Europa, a lovely Phoenician princess. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed with her father’s herd. Europa was so struck by the beauty of this bull – a universal symbol of potency – that she climbed on his back, whereupon he abducted her, swimming all the way to Crete. Europa settled there, married a mortal, bore a line of kings and gave her name to a continent. From the fifth century BCE down to the Roman era, the coinage of Gortyn (or Gortyna) featured Europa and the bull. Tourists are still shown a great plane tree where Europa supposedly found refuge after she was ravished by the king of the gods.
Silver "archaic eye" Tetradrachm of Athens. c. 430 - 420 BCE
In the 5th century BCE, Athens experienced an outburst of cultural creativty, in art, architecture, drama, philosophy and many other fields that has shaped much of subsequent Western history. Athenians invented democracy - although it was a very imperfect sort of democracy that excluded women and slaves. This golden age was fueled by a flood of silver from the rich mines of Laurium near Athens. Most of this metal was struck into pure silver tetradrachms weighing about 17.2 grams, which became the most important coinage of international trade for over a century, circulating across the Mediterranean world. This coin shows the goddess Athena with the "Archaic eye" -- even though the goddess is viewed in profile, her eye appears frontally, as in Egyptian art. Later coins show the eye drawn in profile. The reverse bears the image of Athena's companion, the owl (symbolizing wisdom) which gave it name to the coin. Athenian owls are currently a bargain, since the market is slowly absorbing a huge hoard that surfaced a few years ago. On Harlan Berk's list of the 100 greatest ancients, this type is #10.
Bronze obol (?) of Cleopatra VII of Egypt (born 69 BCE, died 30 BCE.) Portrait coins of the most famous woman of ancient history are in high demand from collectors, who are often surprised that her legendary beauty is not apparent on the coins. Her official image emphasized her family resemblance to her ancestors, the male rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which had ruled Egypt for over two centuries. The reverse is a seated eagle, the emblem of the Ptolemies.
Silver "elephant" denarius of Julius Caesar military mint moving with Caesar in Gallia or Hispania, 49-48 BCE. CAESAR Elephant walking right, trampling on horned serpent. Rev. Priestly implements. The most common lifetime issue of Julius Caesar, an estimated 22 million of these coins were struck from the spoils of Caesar's conquests to pay his army. The meaning of the elephant symbol is debated by historians. The reverse celebrates Caesar's office as high priest of the Roman state religion.
Lion and bull silver stater of Croesus. Lydia c. 565-546 BCE These were some of the earliest ancient silver coins, issued in a wide range of denominations. "Rich as Croesus" became a proverbial expression. The bull is a symbol of fertility, the lion ("king of the beasts") is a symbol or royal power. The reverse is a simple punch mark. When the Persians conquered Lydia, they scrapped the complex denominations of Croesus, and issued a single silver type, the siglos of about 5.5 grams. On Berk's list of the 100 greatest ancients, this type is #9.
You can see more of Shanna's inventory here: [ Ссылка ]
