Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Constantius I, as Caesar, AV Aureus. Antioch, AD 293-295. CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES, laureate head to right / HERCVLI CONS CAES, Hercules standing to right, head to left, resting on grounded club and holding three apples of the Hesperides, with lion skin draped over shoulder; SMAΣ✷ (Σ = 60 to the pound of gold) in exergue. RIC VI 8; C -; Depeyrot 9/4; Calicó 4833 (same obv. die). 5.35g, 19mm, 11h.
Good Extremely Fine; a bold portrait struck in high relief and of fine style. Rare.
The garden of the Hesperides, nymphs of the evening and golden light of sunset, is Hera's garden in the west, where an apple tree grows which produces golden apples conferring immortality when eaten. Planted from the fruited branches that Gaia gave to Hera as a wedding gift when she wed Zeus, the garden and tree were tended by the Hesperides.
After Hercules had completed his ten labours, Eurystheus gave him two more, claiming that neither the Hydra counted (because Iolaus helped him) nor the Augean stables either (because he received payment for the job or because the rivers did the work). Thus the first of these two additional labours was to steal the apples from the garden of the Hesperides. During this labour, Hercules had to take the vault of the heavens on his shoulders to relieve Atlas, who was the father of the Hesperides and could therefore persuade them to give up the apples. Having obtained the apples Atlas, relieved of his burden, was unwilling to take it back and offered to deliver the apples in Hercules' stead. Hercules however tricked him by agreeing to take his place on condition that Atlas relieve him temporarily so that he could make his cloak more comfortable. Hercules was thus able to complete the task; as for the apples, as property of the gods, they had to be returned to the garden from which they had been removed, a task that Athena completed on Hercules' behalf.
In later years it was thought that the 'golden apples' might have actually been oranges, a fruit unknown to Europe and the Mediterranean before the Middle Ages. Under this assumption, the Greek botanical name chosen for all citrus species was Hesperidoeide ('hesperidoids') and even today the Greek word for the orange fruit is 'Portokali' after the country of Portugal in Iberia near where the Garden of the Hesperides was thought to grow.
Good Extremely Fine; a bold portrait struck in high relief and of fine style. Rare.
The garden of the Hesperides, nymphs of the evening and golden light of sunset, is Hera's garden in the west, where an apple tree grows which produces golden apples conferring immortality when eaten. Planted from the fruited branches that Gaia gave to Hera as a wedding gift when she wed Zeus, the garden and tree were tended by the Hesperides.
After Hercules had completed his ten labours, Eurystheus gave him two more, claiming that neither the Hydra counted (because Iolaus helped him) nor the Augean stables either (because he received payment for the job or because the rivers did the work). Thus the first of these two additional labours was to steal the apples from the garden of the Hesperides. During this labour, Hercules had to take the vault of the heavens on his shoulders to relieve Atlas, who was the father of the Hesperides and could therefore persuade them to give up the apples. Having obtained the apples Atlas, relieved of his burden, was unwilling to take it back and offered to deliver the apples in Hercules' stead. Hercules however tricked him by agreeing to take his place on condition that Atlas relieve him temporarily so that he could make his cloak more comfortable. Hercules was thus able to complete the task; as for the apples, as property of the gods, they had to be returned to the garden from which they had been removed, a task that Athena completed on Hercules' behalf.
In later years it was thought that the 'golden apples' might have actually been oranges, a fruit unknown to Europe and the Mediterranean before the Middle Ages. Under this assumption, the Greek botanical name chosen for all citrus species was Hesperidoeide ('hesperidoids') and even today the Greek word for the orange fruit is 'Portokali' after the country of Portugal in Iberia near where the Garden of the Hesperides was thought to grow.