Hello, after several years of collecting world coins and
ancient coins, I found my passion in collecting coins of Central
Greece and the
Peloponnese. I would like to introduce my
gallery here step by step.
The first coin I want to introduce is the following - a
Hemidrachm from the city of
Pherai in
Thessaly.
Next to
Larissa, Pherai was the foremost town in
Thessaly, and one of the most ancient. It was situated a little to the
west of Mt. Pelion. From a rocky height on the northern
side of the city gushed forth the famous fountain
Hypereia, which is represented on the coins as a stream of water flowing from the mouth of a
lion’s
head, and perhaps also, under the form of the
horse of Poseidon, issuing from the
face of a rock, or bounding along with loose rein.
(1)Ennodia, this distinctively Thessalian goddess’ name seems to mean “by the road” or “roadside” and may reflect a habitual location of her cult or perceived
area of influence.
(2) Literary sources associate her with appropriate interests (the dead, witchcraft, etc.). The extension of her cult is chiefly due to migrant Pheraians who
had settled for various reasons in other cities of
Thessaly, by Thessalians who
had settled in passing in Pherai and became acquainted with the goddess or who
had private business with Pherai and became acquainted with the goddess, as well as by Thessalians abroad who
had settled in
Macedonia and elsewhere. It is obvious that the growth of the
military and political power of Pherai from the Archaic period and afterwards, but especially in the period of the tyrannies of Lykophron, Jason,
Alexander and his successors (end of the fifth century to 344), favorably influenced the spread of her cult.
(3)The
hemidrachm shows the wreathed
head of Ennodia left and torch to right on the
obverse and ΦΕΡΑΙΟYN, the nymph of Hypereia left, touching the top of lion's
head fountain right, from which water pours forth; to lower left, ΑΣ/ΤΟ within
wreath on the
reverse.
The coin is from the
BCD Collection with his handwritten roun tag noting: „Near Itea
Hoard“.
The Itea
hoard dates from 290 to 270 BC and was found around 1983 in several sections. It consisted of more than 1,500 silver coins. Around 640 of them are kept in the Numismatic Museum in
Athens.
(4)Sources:
(1)
HEAD, BARCLAY,
Historia numorum: a manual of Greek
numismatics.
Oxford, 1887
(2) DUBOIS, “
Zeus Tritodios“
(3) CHRYSOSTOMOU, Η θεσσαλική θεά Εν(ν)οδία ή φεραία θεά,
Athens, 1998, p. 104-133, a Hellenistic dedication from Pherai
(4)
WARTENBERG, U.,
JESSOP PRICE, M. and McGREGOR, K.A.,
Coin Hoards VIII: Greek
Hoardshttps://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-166746