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 Replies: 71 / Views: 9,239 |
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Pillar of the Community
 Spain
2752 Posts |
Well here's my first ever Greek coin!..... This is the start of a 12 Olympian gods set in bronze that I'll be working on over the coming year. It will be a slow and tight budgeted endeavour...But must say I'm finding the hunt and research very interesting and will post each new god as I acquire them....Thanks Paul. The 12 Greek gods who resided on Mount Olympus / The Roman equivalent. Greek / Roman 1..Zeus / Jupiter 2..Hera / Juno 3..Athena / Minerva 4..Apollo / Apollo 5..Poseidon / Neptune 6..Ares / Mars 7..Artemis / Diana 8..Demeter / Ceres 9..Aphrodite / Venus 10.Hermes / Mercury 11.Hephaistos / Vulcan 12.Dionysos / Bacchus Note..The Greeks did not always agree on the 12 and some lists include Hestia, Hercules or Leto, with Dionysos often the one replaced. First of the dozen for me is..... ATHENA. In Greek Mythology, 'Athena' was believed to have been born from the head of her father 'Zeus' fully formed and armoured.  Goddess of reason, wisdom, intelligence, skill, peace, warfare, battle strategy, and handicrafts. She's depicted as being crowned with a crested helmet, armed with shield and spear, and wearing the aegis over a long dress. Her symbol is the olive tree and is also commonly shown accompanied with her sacred animal, the owl. Her Roman counterpart being 'Minerva'. This coin was minted in the affluent and powerful city of Pergamon (Pergamum) near the Western coast of Mysia, an ancient region in the Northwest of ancient Asia Minor, part of modern day Turkey... Mysia, Pergamon . Circa 2nd Century BC. AE 18mm (5.31 gm). Obv.: Head of Athena right, wearing Corinthian Egret helmet. Rev.: ΑΘΗΝΑΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ (Athenas Nicephore), trophy, consisting of a helmet surmounted by a small owl, a cuirass with arms below; monogram to the right.  |
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Valued Member
France
322 Posts |
Very Nice project, Palouche ! I look forward to discovering the others ! Good luck
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
This will be fun.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5238 Posts |
I wonder how many I have. Athena and Zeus at least, Maybe I should do this too.
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
Looking forward to see how your project progressives.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1168 Posts |
It's good to see that you have made a start on your Olympian gods set, Paul. It's a good start too, with a super portrait of Athena. Jim  Edited by Novicius
05/09/2020 6:01 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Very nice start to an interesting set!
Any ideas what the final set might include? Most of the twelve I think are fairly easy to get, but others don't often appear on coinage, like Hephaistos and Poseidon. Are you sticking strictly to independent (non-provincial) Greek city states, or allowing some Romans?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1315 Posts |
Glad your starting a cool set. Will you have both Greek and Roman? I started a project like this, but haven't pursued it much for a while. I like Greek bronzes coins so I intended to get them all in bronze. Turns out that Hera is pretty difficult in bronze, Aphrodite too, but not impossible. Still looking. I have an Hephaistos from Malaca as well, but not shown here. Also I'm going to expand the set with other Greek Heroes as well. Hercules, Eros, Persephone, and so on. Sometimes there are 13 Gods listed. I think Hestia was the other. It's fun to look for them, but lately my budget hasn't allowed much collecting. Good luck with your set Palouche. I'll be looking forward to seeing more. You've inspired to keep going. Thanks for posting.  |
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Pillar of the Community
 Spain
2752 Posts |
Thanks for the encouragement everyone..I'll try and make it as interesting as possible.  Quote:
It's a good start too, with a super portrait of Athena. Thanks Jim.. Yep it's a sweet looking coin... The main difficulty I'm having is trying to balance the Obverse and reverse conditions so as to end up with a nice'ish' looking coin in general rather than just a well detailed portrait and as cheaply as possible. Quote:
Very nice start to an interesting set!
Any ideas what the final set might include? Thanks Steve,...I'm pretty open to whatever catches my eye...11 of the 12 I'm pretty much ok on but as you said Hephaistos / Vulcan is the one coin I'm unsure about. The easiest option is the Malaca with star reverse but the style of the Spanish engravers doesn't really fit in with the Greek coins but I will go for this if I can't find an alternative....The Lipara and Lemnos coins I think will be outside my budget..One option I like are the coins from Samnium Aesernia with Jupiter in biga reverse........Any thoughts? Quote:
I started a project like this, but haven't pursued it much for a while. Wow that's a great looking set Doucet..I love the look of the Ares from Bruttium and that lovely little Hermes from Tragilos...Nice coins.!...The Poseidon and Artemis are the same types I've been looking at and seem to be the best value for style for people on a tight budget like us... For Hera I've been looking at the Ionia, Samos lion scalp reverse and Pontos Amisos owl reverse,,but they're both quite expensive! Any ideas? For Aphrodite a good budget option maybe is Phrygia, Laodikeia cornucopia reverse? I'm so glad this thread has ressurected your drive to finish the set....Your so close only 'TWO' to go! And I'd really like to see it finished...Good luck...Paul |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1315 Posts |
Thanks Paul I do have a Hera, from Thermai but it's a very tiny little coin, 10mm and hard to photograph. I'm not a big fan of tiny coins either so I was looking for a better one. They did mint some that were bigger I think.  This type would be nice from Samos. The peacock would be great. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1742718Hera from Samos with the lion scalp would be a good choice too. I've seen some real beauties. Check out Rudnik. He has a few, although not in the best conditions. http://www.rudnik.com/new/rudSearch...eyword+items |
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
2752 Posts |
@Doucet... Thanks for the links... At the moment I'm only buying from European dealers due to possible problems with shipping but will keep my eye on this seller in the future....Thanks.. Quote:
I'm not a big fan of tiny coins ...Yes I'm not really into small coins either, but your Hera example is very nice with good detail on both portraits of Hera and Herakles and it also seems to have a nice patina..It always amazes me the amount of realistic detail that could be conveyed onto these small coins! Second of the dozen.....ZEUS. King of the Gods. The child of Cronus and Rhea the Titans and was born on the island of Crete.. God of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, and justice. Symbols associated with Zeus are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. His Roman counterpart being 'Jupiter'. I'm not going to go into what this god could do but lets just say 'virtually anything'! From physical transformation to sticking a mountain on his shoulder and moving it somewhere else..He was pretty cool!  Wow! This guy has so many representations, he must be up there with the most depicted portrait on ancient coins? After looking through many different styles of this iconic face with his huge curly beard filling the obverse and an array of reverses depicting thunderbolts, eagles and the said fellow seated, surrounded with a multitude of legends, I decided on a much calmer simplistic portrayal. This coin really called to me and after subsequent research realised it's a nicely detailed coin for the type and wasn't expensive so I bought it! This was one of the first coins minted in Eumeneia, a town positioned on the river Claucus in the ancient West region of ancient Asia Minor, part of modern day Turkey. The town was named after Eumenis II by his brother the king of Pergamon Attalus II (Now there's a story!)... OK here's the coin.. Phrygia, Eumeneia Circa 200-133 BC. AE 15mm (3.98 gm). Obv...Laureate head of Zeus right. Rev...EYME-NEΩN, legend in two lines within oak-wreath. SNG Copenhagen 377-378  Here's the first two together...When this set is finished I would like to display it in a vertical tray stand so another criteria I look at is that the coins complement each other and I feel these do..  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Nice representation of the big guy. Great Greek bronze there, Paul. Two down! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1315 Posts |
Nice Zeus Palouche. Love the reverse too. Looks like you might be going for matching patinas for your set as well.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
946 Posts |
The Greek gods (and goddesses) can be found on the numerous Roman provincial coinage. This reverse shows the god Hermes (Roman Mercury). He holds a purse of money with his right hand and a caduceus (now known as the international symbol of medicine) with his left. From an "AE25" coin I owned (and sold six years ago) of Elagabalus from the mint of Marcianopolis. Reference: Varbanov I 1524  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1315 Posts |
I think that if you were to put together a set of the Olypians in Roman coin, it would probably have to be the Gods on the reverse. Most portraits are of the Emperors or some other dignitary. Masis, that's a great example. That will be a really cool set! I hope somebody beats me to it. Here is another Zeus just for the thread.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1168 Posts |
A very nice Zeus indeed Paul. A really clean and nicely detailed coin. If you can keep to this level, you will have a stunning set. Jim |
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Replies: 71 / Views: 9,239 |
Posted 05/09/2020 5:08 pm
