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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Themes & Provenance| ▸ |Gods, Non-Olympian| ▸ |Persephone||View Options:   | | | Persephone was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility, Queen of the Underworld, daughter of Demeter and Zeus and the consort of Hades. |
Beautiful Persephone lived a peaceful life far away from the other deities, a goddess within Nature herself before the days of planting seeds and nurturing plants. She was innocently picking flowers when Hades, god of the Underworld, burst through a cleft in the earth and abducted her. While Demeter searched desperately for her daughter she neglected the earth and caused nothing to grow. Zeus, pressed by the cries of hungry people, determined to force Hades to return Persephone. However, Hades had tricked Persephone into eating pomegranate seeds, and because anyone who consumes food or drink in the Underworld is doomed to spend eternity there, she is forced return to the underworld for a period each year. Explaining the seasons, when Demeter and her daughter are reunited, the Earth flourishes with vegetation and color, but for the months each year when Persephone returns to the underworld, the earth becomes barren.RP110276. Bronze AE 22, RPC Online VI T8902 (16 spec.); Rosenberger 34; BMC Palestine p. 81, 18; SNG ANS 1084; Sofaer 39; Lindgren I A2438A; Meshorer City Coins -, VF, green patina, tight flan, some porosity, small edge splits, weight 11.087 g, maximum diameter 22.3 mm, die axis 235o, Sebaste (Sebastia, Israel) mint, 16 May 218 - 11 Mar 222 A.D.; obverse SVAEMIAS AVGVSTA SEB, draped bust of Julia Soaemias right; reverse COL L SE SEBASTE, Hades abduction of Persephone: Hades in quadriga right, looking back, holding reins and Persephone, Eros flying right above, Athena advancing right behind, holding shield and about to hurl spear; serpent right over basket before, cista(?) below; $240.00 (€242.40)
Anazarbus, Cilicia, 114 - 115 A.D.
The torch is a symbol that can be related to either Artemis or Demeter. Although goddess on the reverse is usually identified in references as Artemis, we believe it is Demeter. In year 132, this type was struck at Anazarbus with larger denominations depicting Trajan on the obverse, some with reverses depicting Trajan's sister Marciana, and others with reverses depicting her daughter, Trajan's niece, Matidia. Circulating alongside the other coins, these coins advertised the importance of Marciana and Matidia to the imperial family and suggested that they, similar to Demeter and her daughter Persephone, were essential to the prosperity of the empire.GB110042. Bronze hemiassarion, Ziegler 122; RPC III 3375; BMC Lycaonia p. 31, 3; SNG BnF 2026; cf. SNG Levante 1380 (year 132); SNG Cop -; SNGvA -; SNG Righetti -, F, dark green patina, scratches, reverse edge beveled, weight 3.023 g, maximum diameter 17.0 mm, die axis 0o, Anazarbus (Anavarza, Turkey) mint, 114 - 115 A.D.; obverse KAICAPIA ANAZAP, veiled bust of Persephone right, grain ears and poppy before; reverse veiled bust of Demeter right, wearing polos (resembling a pileus), flaming torch before, ET ΓΛP (year 133) upward behind; $70.00 (€70.70)
Syracuse, Sicily, Tyrant Agathokles, 317 - 289 B.C.
With an army of mercenaries, through deceit, and after banishing or murdering some 10,000 citizens, Agathocles made himself master of Syracuse and later most of Sicily. Machiavelli wrote of him, "It cannot be called prowess to kill fellow-citizens, to betray friends, to be treacherous, pitiless, and irreligious" and cited him as an example of "those who by their crimes come to be princes." According to the historian Justin, very early in life Agathocles parlayed his remarkable beauty into a career as a prostitute, first for men, and later, after puberty, for women, and then made a living by robbery before becoming a soldier and marrying a rich widow.SH79280. Silver tetradrachm, Ierardi 40 (O7/R23), SNG ANS 639 (same dies), SNG Delepierre 701, SNG Lloyd 1479, Boston MFA 460, HGC 2 1348 (S), SNG Cop -, SNG Munchen -, gVF, superb classical style, excellent centering on a tight flan, toned, flan flaw on obverse, weight 16.954 g, maximum diameter 25.2 mm, die axis 270o, Syracuse mint, c. 317 - 310/305 B.C.; obverse head of Persephone (or Arethusa) left, crowned with grain, wearing triple-drop earrings and a pearl necklace, surrounded by three dolphins, NI below; reverse quadriga galloping left, young charioteer wearing long chiton, kentron in right hand, reins in left hand, triskeles above; ΣYPAKOΣIΩN over AI monogram in exergue; ex Helios Numismatik, auction 6 (9 March 2011), lot 345; scarce; SOLD
Mytilene, Lesbos, c. 377 - 326 B.C.
Mytilene was famous in ancient times for its great output of electrum coins struck from the late 6th through mid - 4th centuries B.C. The usual denomination was the hekte (1/6th stater). Warwick Wroth noted in the British Museum Catalog, "The Sixths of [this Lesbos electrum series] form one of the most beautiful coin-series of the ancient world. This will be evident from a glance."SH73442. Electrum hekte, Bodenstedt 99; SNG Cop 321; SNGvA 1729; HGC 6 1025; Boston MFA 1735; Weber 5631, gVF, fine style, minor die wear, weight 2.564 g, maximum diameter 10.5 mm, die axis 0o, Mytilene mint, c. 377 - 326 B.C.; obverse head of Kabeiros right, wearing wreath and pileus, two stars flanking cap; reverse head of Persephone right in linear square; ex Triton XVII (6 - 7 Jan 2015), lot 599; ex CNG auction 72 (14 Jun 2006), lot 714; SOLD
Syracuse, Sicily, Agathokles, 317 - 289 B.C.
Although Agathocles was brutal in pursuit of power, afterward he was a mild and popular "tyrant." His grandest goal was to establish democracy as the dominant form of government for the world. He did not want his sons to succeed him as king and restored the Syracusan democracy on his death bed.
KOPAΣ is the Doric genitive of Kore, "the Maiden," an epithet of Persephone.SH95923. Silver tetradrachm, Ierardi 171 (O43/R114), SNG ANS 672, SNG München 1263, SNG Fitzwilliam 1344, HGC 2 1536, VF, attractive barbarous style, light tone with dark spots, flow lines, bumps, scratches, die wear, weight 17.047 g, maximum diameter 26.5 mm, die axis 180o, Syracuse mint, 310 - 308 B.C.; obverse KOPAΣ (conterclockwise behind), head of Kore right, wreathed in grain, wearing earring and necklace; reverse AΓAΘOKΛEIOΣ (curving clockwise on left), Nike standing half right, raising trophy of captured arms, nude to the hips, hammer in right hand, nail in left hand, counterclockwise triskeles at feet on left, no ground line; from the Errett Bishop Collection; SOLD
Mytilene, Lesbos, c. 377 - 326 B.C.
Mytilene was famous in ancient times for its great output of electrum coins struck from the late 6th through mid - 4th centuries B.C. The usual denomination was the hekte (1/6th stater). Warwick Wroth noted in the British Museum Catalog, "The Sixths of [this Lesbos electrum series] form one of the most beautiful coin-series of the ancient world. This will be evident from a glance."SH89443. Electrum hekte, Bodenstedt 88 (c/-); HGC 6 1014 corr. (same rev. die, R1); SNG Cop 314; SNGvA 7737; BMC Lesbos p. 162, 65; Traité II 2185, VF, beautiful style, well centered on a tight flan, light toning, scratches, weight 2.525 g, maximum diameter 10.2 mm, die axis 180o, Mytilene mint, c. 377 - 326 B.C.; obverse head of Persephone right, wreathed in grain, wearing earring; reverse bull butting to left within linear square; Numismatik Naumann auction 72 (2 Dec 2018), lot 131; SOLD
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