A question has come up about the following coin
type from Tarsus:
RPC IX 1350:
http://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/9/1350/images/ Described as: "
fisherman standing r., holding line with fish and basket,
facing Perseus standing l., holding Medusa-head, harpa and chlamys".
Images 12 and 13 may be the clearest, and on neither of them does it
clearly show
Perseus holding the
head of
Medusa, as indicated in any of
the various descriptions for these coins.
I can see the fisherman,
his basket, and
his fish, both hanging from
his pole (="line" above). I can see
Perseus holding
his harpa and
chlamys in
his right hand, and
his left hand is raised, but appears to be empty.
Unless the
head of
Medusa is depicted as being about the size of
his fist,
and therefore indistinguishable from
his fist, there really is no room for it
to be shown. Am I confused? Mistaken?
There is another
type from the same city which shows
Perseus by himself,
holding
harpa and the
head of
Medusa, where the
head is quite clear (
RPC IX 1406-7). However, where the
head is clear on this
type, the opposite
seems to apply to the above piece(s).
Similarly, there is yet another
type showing
Perseus and the fisherman
which does not show the
head of
Medusa at all (
SNG Levante Suppl. 288).
This seems to align more with the first coin in question, perhaps raising
additional doubts about the presence of the
head of
Medusa.
(
CNG 66/1206):
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=174866 Thoughts?
Walter
Holt
