Nomos AG
obolos 17 20 Dec 2020
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IONIA. Ephesos. Circa 190-170 BC. Drachm (Silver, 18 mm, 4.11 g, 11 h), struck under the magistrate Apollodoros. E - Φ Bee with straight wings. Rev. [ΑΠΟ]ΛΛΟΔΟΡΟΣ Stag standing to right before palm tree. Kinns, Attic p. 84. SNG Copenhagen 283. Clear. Some marks and uncleaned deposits on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.
Along with depictions of gods and heros, Greek coinage used animals most associated with their cities to identify their coins. At Ephesos both the bee and the stag were the principal animals associated with the city. According to the writer Philostratos, the Muses took the form of bees when they led the Athenians during their colonization of Ionia (Imagines 2.8), and Artemis' priestesses were called melissai or "bees" (Pausanias 8.13.1). The stag was the animal most sacred to the goddess Artemis, Ephesos' patron goddess, and she is often shown on the city's coinage with a stag in close attendance: in her guise as huntress; in either a chariot drawn by a stag or riding on the back of one; subduing a stag with her bare hands; or when she appears in her stiff hieratic Anatolian form, two deer can stand like heraldic symbols on either side, looking up at her.
Along with depictions of gods and heros, Greek coinage used animals most associated with their cities to identify their coins. At Ephesos both the bee and the stag were the principal animals associated with the city. According to the writer Philostratos, the Muses took the form of bees when they led the Athenians during their colonization of Ionia (Imagines 2.8), and Artemis' priestesses were called melissai or "bees" (Pausanias 8.13.1). The stag was the animal most sacred to the goddess Artemis, Ephesos' patron goddess, and she is often shown on the city's coinage with a stag in close attendance: in her guise as huntress; in either a chariot drawn by a stag or riding on the back of one; subduing a stag with her bare hands; or when she appears in her stiff hieratic Anatolian form, two deer can stand like heraldic symbols on either side, looking up at her.