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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Themes & Provenance| ▸ |Gods, Non-Olympian| ▸ |Medusa||View Options:  |  |  | 

Medusa, Gorgoneion & Perseus on Ancient Coins

Medusa, one of the Gorgons, was beheaded by Perseus. Medusa alone was mortal among the Gorgons, which made it possible for Perseus to come after her head. In order to kill her, he beheld the image of Medusa on a brazen shield, so that he would not be turned into a stone for looking at her, and, his hand guided by Athena, he beheaded her. When her head was cut off, there sprang from her trunk Pegasus and Chrysaor. When Medusa as beheaded, the other GORGONS woke up and pursued Perseus 1, but they could not see him because he was wearing the helmet of Hades. According to late classical poets, Medousa was once a beautiful woman who was transformed into a monster by Athena as punishment for lying with Poseidon in her shrine. Earlier Greek writers and artists, however, simply portray her as a monster born into a large family of monsters. The three Gorgones were depicted in ancient Greek vase painting and sculpture as winged women with broad, round heads, serpentine locks of hair, large staring eyes, wide mouths, lolling tongues, the tusks of swine, flared nostrils, and sometimes short, coarse beards. Medousa was humanized in late classical art with the face of a beautiful woman. In mosaic art her round face was wreathed with coiling snakes and adorned with a pair of small wings on the brow.

Hadrian, 11 August 117 - 10 July 138 A.D., Petra, Arabia

|Roman| |Arabia|, |Hadrian,| |11| |August| |117| |-| |10| |July| |138| |A.D.,| |Petra,| |Arabia||AE| |25|
Petra, the capital of the ancient Nabatean Kingdom, is a famous archaeological site in Jordan's southwestern desert. UNESCO describes Petra as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage." The BBC selected Petra as one of "the 40 places you have to see before you die." Accessed via a narrow canyon called Al Siq, it contains tombs and temples carved into pink sandstone cliffs, earning its nickname, the "Rose City." Perhaps its most famous structure is 45m-high Al Khazneh, a temple with an ornate, Greek-style facade, and known as The Treasury. After the last Nabataean king, Rabbel II, died in 106 A.D., Trajan incorporated Nabataea into the Roman province Arabia Petraea. One of the latest known Nabataean language inscriptions, from 191 A.D., records "...This in the year 85 of the Eparchy [Roman Rule], in which Arabs destroyed the land." It seems likely that raiding Arab tribes extinguished what remained of a weakened Nabataean culture. In 747 A.D. what was left of the Nabataean cities was destroyed in a major earthquake.Treasury
RP114507. Bronze AE 25, RPC Online III 4099; Spijkerman 2; SNG ANS 1360; Sofaer 3; BMC Arabia p. 34, 1, SNG Righetti 2543; Rosenberger IV 2, VF, green patina, flan adjustment marks, earthen deposits, weight 13.858 g, maximum diameter 25.4 mm, die axis 180o, Petra (Jordan) mint, 11 Aug 117 - 10 Jul 138 A.D.; obverse AVTOKPATΩP KAICAP TPAIANOC AΔIANOC CEBACTOC (Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus), laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, gorgon (head of Medusa) on cuirass; reverse ΠETPA MHTPOΠOΛIC, Tyche seated left on rocks, wearing turreted crown, veil, long chiton and mantel, extending open right hand, trophy of arms in left hand over left shoulder; scarce; $180.00 (€169.20)
 


Eusebeia (Caesarea), Cappadocian Kingdom, Reign of Archelaus, c. 36 B.C. - 17 A.D.

|Cappadocia|, |Eusebeia| |(Caesarea),| |Cappadocian| |Kingdom,| |Reign| |of| |Archelaus,| |c.| |36| |B.C.| |-| |17| |A.D.||AE| |16|
Mount Erciyes (Argaios to the Greeks, Argaeus to the Romans) is a massive stratovolcano 25 km to the south of Kayseri (ancient Caesarea) in Turkey. The highest mountain in central Anatolia, with its summit reaching 3,916 meters (12,848 ft). It may have erupted as recently as 253 B.C., as may be depicted on Roman era coins. Strabo wrote that the summit was never free from snow and that those few who ascended it reported seeing both the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south in days with a clear sky.
GB110053. Bronze AE 16, Sydenham Caesarea 5; BMC Galatia p. 45, 1; ; Lindgren III 945; SNGvA -; SNG Cop VII -; Imhoof MG -, F, green patina, earthen deposits, weight 3.729 g, maximum diameter 15.7 mm, die axis 0o, Cappadocia, Caesarea (Kayseri, Turkey) mint, c. 36 B.C. - 17 A.D.; obverse facing head of Medusa (gorgoneion) in aegis; reverse Mount Argaeus, EYΣEBEIAΣ in exergue ; $60.00 (€56.40)
 


Kamarina, Sicily, c. 420 - 405 B.C.

|Kamarina|, |Kamarina,| |Sicily,| |c.| |420| |-| |405| |B.C.||onkia|
A Gorgoneion was a horror-creating apotropaic Gorgon head pendant. The name derives from the Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful." The Gorgons were three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a horrifying face that turned those who saw it to stone. Stheno and Euryale were immortal, but their sister Medusa was not, and was slain by Perseus. Zeus, Athena, Hellenistic kings and Roman emperors wore Gorgoneion for protection. Images of the Gorgons were also put upon objects and buildings for protection. A Gorgon image is at the center of the pediment of the temple at Corfu, the oldest stone pediment in Greece from about 600 B.C.
GB69171. Bronze onkia, Calciati III, p. 47, 7 (same dies); Westermark-Jenkins, type A, 180; HGC 2 552 (R1); BMC Sicily -; SNG Cop -; SNG ANS -; SNG Munchen -, EF, light cleaning scratches, weight 1.295 g, maximum diameter 12.3 mm, die axis 270o, Kamarina (near Scoglitti, Sicily, Italy) mint, c. 420 - 405 B.C.; obverse facing head of Medusa (gorgoneion), smooth neat hair tied with ribbon, symmetrical locks on forehead, eyes looking left, tongue not protruding; reverse KAMA (upward on left), owl standing right on right leg, head facing, lizard with head down in left talon, pellet (mark of value) in exergue, barley kernel (control symbol) right; rare; SOLD


Himera, Sicily, c. 430 - 420 B.C.

|Himera|, |Himera,| |Sicily,| |c.| |430| |-| |420| |B.C.||hemilitron|
Himera was a Chalcidic colony founded from Zancle on the north coast of Sicily in mid-seventh century B.C. Carthage attacked in 409 B.C. At first Syracuse supported them with 4000 auxiliaries, but their general panicked for the safety of Syracuse itself abandoned Himera. The city was utterly destroyed, its buildings, even its temples, were razed to the ground. General Hannibal Mago executed more than 3000 prisoners as a human sacrifice to the memory of his grandfather General Hamilcar who had been defeated at Himera in 480 B.C. The site has been desolate ever since. The few surviving Greeks were settled by the Carthaginians eleven kilometers west of Himera at Thermae Himeraeae (Termini Imerese today). Thermae was taken by the Romans during the First Punic War.
SH73532. Bronze hemilitron, Calciati I Group III, Class 5, p. 32, 20; SNG ANS 179, VF, thick truncated-conic flan (usual for the type), smoothed, weight 26.468 g, maximum diameter 26.2 mm, die axis 0o, Himera (Termini, Sicily, Italy) mint, c. 430 - 420 B.C.; obverse facing head of Medusa (gorgoneion), hair in large curls, crude execution, dot border; reverse six pellets (mark of value), in two columns of three, within shallow round incuse; SOLD


Kamarina, Sicily, 420 - 405 B.C.

|Kamarina|, |Kamarina,| |Sicily,| |420| |-| |405| |B.C.||tetras|
Kamarina was suffering a plague. A marsh north of the city was the suspected source. The town oracle advised them not to drain the marsh, but in 405 B.C., the leaders ignored the advice. Once the marsh was dry, there was nothing to stop the Carthaginian army. They marched across the newly drained marsh, razed the city, and killed every last inhabitant.
GI76951. Bronze tetras, Westermark-Jenkins, type F, 195.12; BMC Sicily p. 40, 38; Calciati III p. 57, 24; SNG Cop 168; SNG Munchen V 410; HGC 2 547 (S), gVF, well centered, attractive dark brown surfaces, some light corrosion, weight 3.552 g, maximum diameter 14.8 mm, die axis 225o, Kamarina (near Scoglitti, Sicily, Italy) mint, 420 - 405 B.C.; obverse facing head of Medusa (gorgoneion) with neatly waved hair, pearled headband, smiling expression, dimpled cheeks; reverse KAMA (downward on right), owl standing left on left leg, head facing, lizard with head down in right talon, three pellets (mark of value) in exergue; scarce; SOLD







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REFERENCES

Karoglou, K. Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v.75, no. 3 (Winter, 2017).

Catalog current as of Monday, March 18, 2024.
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