The Twelve Olympian Gods.

Numero Ocho.....8
Fell for the portrait on this one...What more can I say!?..The reverse is offset but still has nice detail and shows the Thyrsos which I liked..See below..

DIONYSOS....
He was the son of Zeus (As I said before this guy got around and obviously forgot!) and ?...I'm gonna stick with...... 'Semele' who was the youngest daughter of the Phoenician hero Cadmus and Harmonia...They've got the same colour eyes.......
There are other claiments of course such as Demeter, Persephone, Ammon and Amaltheia.

He was God of the vine, grape-harvest, wine-making, wine (Oh yes), fertility (Sounds good!), ritual madness (Ooh! I like this one!), religious ecstasy (not so much), and theatre (I love a good play)...A guy after my own heart..Wine, ritual madness and theatre !... Maybe just skip the 'religious ecstacy' as I wouldn't want to start a war!)
Symbols associated to him..Thyrsus, grapevine, bull, panther, ivy, goat, masks (What back then aswell!) and the chalice....
The Thyrsos (Thyrsus), which is depicted on the reverse of the OP coin, was a wand or staff of giant fennel carried by Dionysus (Bacchus) and his associates; topped by a pine cone or a bunch of ivy leaves and wreathed with tendrils of vine or ivy. It was a symbol of the immortality of his believers.
The Roman equivalent god was Bacchus.
The coin was minted in Amisos, modern day Samsun in Turkey, under the legendary ruler Mithradates VI. King of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120-63 BC he expanded the kingdom greatly and even gave Rome a run for its money in the Mithradatic wars.
Here's the coin...
Pontos, Amisos. temp. Mithradates VI, c. 105-85 or 85-65 BC. Æ (16mm, 3.98g, 12h). Struck under Mithradates VI.
Obverse..Ivy wreathed head of Dionysos right.
Reverse..Filleted thyrsos, bell attached with fillet, AMI-ΣOY flanking across field, monogram lower right.
Mint..Amisos (Samsun, Turkey)
SNG Black Sea 1192-5; HGC 7, 251. Good VF


Reverse legend...Anyone have an idea as to the Monogram?

Here's the set so far....

Another lovely addition to the set Paul, and a super portrait of Dionysos. I haven't seen one like that before. A really interesting write-up too.

The set is really coming along now, and the image of all eight coins surrounding Mount Olympus is most attractive.

Jim

So here we go....Numero Nueve..9.....Another tough one to acquire...Really liked the detail and the simplistic depictions on both sides, with an added provenance bonus of it being an Ex Harlan J. Berk.

HERA...
Hera was the wife and sister of Zeus...And the daughter of the Titans Cronos and Rhea..She wasn't actually born like us mortals but was apparently regurgitated by her father Cronos!
Goddess of women, marriage, the family and childbirth.
Symbols associated with her...Pomegranate, peacock feather, diadem, cow, lily, lotus, cuckoo, panther, scepter, throne, lion
Roman equivalent goddess...Juno.
This coin was minted in Samos a city/island just off the west coast of Turkey and part of the ancient region known as Ionia. It was the birthplace of Greek philosophers such as the mathematician Pythagorus, Melissus, Epicurus and the astronomer Aristarchus being the first person to propose that the earth revolves around the sun (What a mad man! We all know it revolves around money!). Samos was a rich and powerful city-state renowned for wine production, which continues to this day, in fact most of the island is still covered in grape vine. Also famous for its red pottery (Samian ware), @BobL might like this, with its smooth surfaces, rich red-brown colour and sometimes finely detailed, it is quite 'beautiful'!


Samos also has some very important UNESCO sites..The archaic temple of Hera herself 'the Heraion' which stood 6km outside the ancient city. According to tradition, the Goddess Hera was born and raised here and for this reason her temple in Heraion is the biggest in the whole ancient world 109m long x 55m wide and 25m high also commonly known as Kolona (column) due to the one and only surviving column still standing.


And 'The tunnel of Eupalinos (also known as the Eupalinian aqueduct). An amazing engineering feat, being excavated around 6BC, this tunnel was just over 1km long running right through mount Kastro allowing the city to bring in its own fresh water supply from an inland natural spring.

Here's the sweet little coin...
Ionia Samos AE13 Circa 350 BC, 13.07 mm/3.08 grams
Obverse: Head of Hera left
Reverse: Lion's scalp facing
SNG Copenhagen 1694

The set so far....This hopefully will be my criteria for max/min diameter size to try and keep the set coherent....
They still seem to sit nicely together at this point.

Excellent update, Paul.




Indeed yes! Beautiful examples of Samian ware.

Great new coin. The lion's scalp is awesome.

Thanks for the comment guys, appreciated.


Yes Bob the pottery is beautiful but seems to be quite expensive even as shards!....It actually became quite widespread throughout the Roman empire, being made in Italy and Gaul.
It was also the main pottery used and manufactured for the Romans across the UK....
Apparently a couple of Eastenders, Sam and Ian, took on the franchise..