What happens if you take the front of one animal and attach it to the back of another? Maybe mix in parts of some more? Some odd-looking creatures can be found in the art of more than one ancient culture, right back to the 7th century BCE. The Greeks were pretty good at this sort of mixture, and quite a few appeared on Greek and Roman coins.

The first example here is a creature called Chimaera, or Chimera in the American spelling. This name is applied in modern biology to creatures with part of another kind of creature grafted onto them – and they do exist! But they are more likely to be tiny amphibians than large and ferocious like the Greek Chimaera.

The coin on the right is a small bronze from Leukas in Arkanania, struck somewhere between 350 and 250 BCE. It shows Chimaera as she was described by Homer, a creature with the body and head of a lion, a tail consisting of a snake (complete with head) and a goat's head emerging from her back. Like many Greek monsters, she was said to be the offspring of Typhon, god of winds, and Echidna, a creature with a woman's head and a snake for a body. Chimaera was a fearsome creature who could breathe fire, and she was finally killed by the hero Bellerophon riding Pegasus – and these two appear on the obverse of the same coin, which you can see if you click on the coin image.

Many ancient monsters were not evil or deadly, just a different sort of creature. Centaurs, for example, were mostly supposed to be wild carousers, creatures of impulse, but not evil. And in complete contrast, one centaur, Chiron, the last of his kind, was a wise and revered teacher, whose pupils included Achilles, Jason, Asklepios and many other heroes.

This centaur is on an antoninianus of the Roman emperor Gallienus, whose coins provide several nice monstrosities. As you can see, it had the head and torso of a human being attached to the body of a horse, so that it had four legs and two arms. He has a bow and arrow, so is likely to be one of the wild fighters. They were famous for rioting at a wedding and fighting a people called the Lapiths. This battle, called the centauromachy, was carved on marble panels on the Parthenon, and parts of it can be seen in the Parthenon Gallery in the British Museum.

This coin is one of a series known as Gallienus' Zoo. They show a whole range of animals which relate to particular deities, and invoke the god concerned as the protector of the emperor. Perhaps the fighting centaurs were more useful protection than the wise Chiron would have been!

This creature, though, was definitely both dangerous and fearful. It is the gorgon Medusa, snaky-haired and hideous, with a gaze that turned anyone she looked at to stone. Once beautiful, she had angered the goddess Athena and been cursed. She was eventually killed by the hero Perseus, with help from Athena. Her severed head, still deadly, was then mounted on Athena's shield.

There are many ancient coins which show parts of this story, and I show some of them on my story of Medusa page. This one is a silver drachm of Apollonia Pontica, and as you can see it has been pierced for use as jewellery. The face of a gorgon was considered a good luck charm on the basis that it would scare away evil influences. Many ancient coins were pierced like this, and you can see some more pierced Medusas that have been used as lucky charms on my Hellenic holed coins page.

Athena's shield with Medusa's head mounted on it was known as the Aegis, and that, too, appeared on many ancient coins. Some of them are shown on my Aegis coins page.

Once again, we are indebted to the Roman emperor Gallienus for these coins. Like the centaur above, they are part of the zoo coins range. The hippocamp coin says "NEPTVNO CONS AVG," meaning "Dedicated to Neptune, protector of the emperor." Neptune was the god of the sea and of horses. The criocamp coin says "MERCVRIO CONS AVG," making a similar dedication to Mercury. The ram was Mercury's sacrificial animal, though why there is a fishy monster version of a ram on this coin is a mystery. There is more about Mercury on my Mercury coins page.

On the right is another benign monster, the winged horse Pegasus (or Pegasos to the Greeks). This creature was said to have sprung, fully formed, from the neck of Medusa when her head was removed by Perseus. Pegasus was then just a wild creature, powerful and immortal but not dangerous or threatening. He was finally tamed by Bellerophon, using a golden bridle provided by Athena, and together, they were able to kill the dangerous Chimaera. (Despite what anyone might have seen on TV, Pegasus was not Hercules' mount.)

Bellerophon and Pegasus went on to undertake many more successful quests, but unfortunately for him, Bellerophon's pride in his accomplishments eventually led him to anger Zeus, and he came to a miserable end.

This Pegasus coin is a silver stater of Apollonia in Illyria. Pegasus was a very popular theme on ancient coins, and there are many of them on my Pegasus coins page.

Here are two winged monsters that are more malevolent. On the far left is a griffin on a Roman Republican denarius. This creature has the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Modern heraldic griffins have eagle's claws as forefeet, but you can see that this ancient one has a lion's forepaws. Its prominent ears don't really belong to either animal.

Next to it is a sphinx on a small bronze coin from the town of Chios in Ionia. The Sphinx was Chios' emblem, and appeared on many of its coins. This is the Greek sphinx, not an Egyptian one.

Egyptian sphinxes had a lion's body and a human head, and were often temple guardians. The world's most famous sphinx is the huge statue near the pyramids at Giza, which has a recumbent lion's body and whose head was probably modelled on the Pharaoh Khafra.

This Greek Sphinx, whose name means "strangler," has a woman's head on the body of a winged lioness, and sits upright. In Greek mythology there was only one Sphinx, and like Chimaera, she was an offspring of Echidna. Also like Chimaera, she was not a creature you would be pleased to encounter.

The monster on the coin on the right is not the seated figure, but the creature at his feet. Seated on his throne is Hades and Serapis combined, two gods of the underworld in one package. Hades had a three-headed dog called Cerberus (or Kerberos to the Greeks) who guarded the entrance to the underworld. Cerberus was yet another offspring of Echidna and Typhon, huge and ferocious. On this coin, though, he looks like a gentle pet: Hades and his good doggie. Only the two extra heads just visible behind the front one give the game away. Cerberus also had a snake for a tail, and something that might be that is just visible behind his haunches.

This coin is a silver antoninianus of Caracalla, one of the sons of the Roman emperor Septimus Severus.

Here are three snakes with additions. On the far left, a coiled serpent with a beard and a forked fish-tail on a brass provincial coin of the empress Plautilla, wife of Caracalla. There were many snake cults in the Roman provinces, and this snake is rather like the snake god Glycon, which was depicted with a full head of hair.

In the centre is a bronze coin of the emperor Domitian from Alexandria. Some of the coin types from Alexandria were quite unusual, with Egyptian rather than Roman inspiration. This one is a snake, apparently a cobra, with a human head. I have found it documented as a Uraeus, the Egyptian sacred serpent, with the head of the goddess Demeter; and elsewhere as a combination of the goddess Isis and the serpent goddess Thermouthis.

Next to that coin is one showing Aesculapius, a minor god of healing, who is feeding the snake which twines up his staff. This snake has distinct ears (or possibly horns), which you will never find on a snake in real life. Quite a few snakes on coins were shown like this, and oddly, it does not seem that it represents any particular symbolism.

Finally for this page, two man-monsters. On the near right is Janus, the god of doorways and beginnings. Janus had two faces, one looking forward and one behind. The month which begins the year, January, was named after him.

This particular Janus is on a silver denarius of Geta, for a short time the co-ruler of Rome with his brother Caracalla, whose coin with Cerberus is just above. This image of Janus, carrying the thunderbolt of Jupiter, might have been meant to symbolise the equality of power of the two rulers. Caracalla, the older brother, did not agree, and Geta was dead within months of this coin being struck. There are some portraits of the brothers on my Publius and Lucius page.

To the right of that coin is a silver trihemiobol of Thasos showing a satyr. The satyr is not much of a monster, but he does have a tail, so he is certainly not human. Satyrs were companions of Pan and Dionysos, and were noted for carousing and having a high sex drive. This one is carrying a kantharos, a drinking cup with large handles, and on the other side of this coin is the large wine vessel that he dipped his drink from. He is nude, but unlike some vase paintings, he does not have an erection. His posture looks a little like kneeling, but in fact it is an ancient way to depict running.

In modern times we think of satyrs as having goat's legs and maybe even horns, but that was a Roman idea, and this is an earler Greek coin from the 4th or 5th century BCE.

The coin on the left is a modern fake, a cast copy of a denarius of Sextus Pompey, son of the famous Pompey the Great, and a proficient admiral in his own right. It's here because is shows a naval trophy decorated just above the anchor with two heads of the six-headed sea monster Scylla (or Skylla to the Greeks). Scylla was said to live on one side of a narrow channel, with another monster called Charybdis on the other side, so that you could not avoid one without coming dangerously close to the other.

On this page, I have given only a little of the story of each creature, just enough to set it in context. All the named creatures are all well enough known that you can get lots of detail on Wikipedia if you like, except for the criocamp, and the Wikipedia page on the hippocamp covers fish-tailed monsters in general.

There are a few other monsters on coins that I would like to have, such as the Lernean Hydra, some snake-footed giants, a man-headed bull, and the sea-monster Ketos. I asked the members of Forum if I had missed any, and they came up with lots! So I should also be able to find a winged snake, a Triton, a capricorn, and goat-legged Pan; a harpy, Echidna herself, and a range of un-named monstrous combinations. I thought I had a good selection here, but there is some way to go .. Most of these extra creatures appear on coins that tend to be poorly preserved, or are scarce and expensive, or both. I will add to this page if the opportunity presents itself.