Silver Didrachm
ca. 394-304 BC
Rhodes
29-126-456
A rose, the Greek word for which is rhodon and thus a
punning reference to Rhodes, the issuing agent.
Dia. 20.0 mm. Photo courtesy Registrar's Office, Univeristy of
Pennsylvania Museum.(large
version)
Silver Tertradrachm
ca. 342-336 BC
Philip II of Macedon
29-126-58
Young naked rider on a walking horse, carrying a long victory palm.
This commemorates Philip's victory in the horse race at Olympia in
356 BC. Inscribed PHILIPPOU or "coin of Philip."
Dia. 26.0 mm. Photo courtesy D. White. (large
version)
Silver Tetrdrachm
ca. 415-387 BC
Rhegium, Bruttuim
29-126-27
Head of a lion. Whether because of their perceived characteristics,
such as beauty, wildness, ferocity, swiftness, or wisdom, or because
animals played some part in the issuing city's history or makeup,
many different kinds of animals were used as coin types with
frequently beautiful effect.
Dia. 24.0 mm. Photo courtesy Registrar's Office, University of
Pennsylvania Museum. (large
version)
Silver Tetradrachm
ca. 324 BC
Alexander the Great, Babylon mint
29-126-469
Head of Alexander-Heracles in a lionskin helmet. The first coins
portraying Greeks, whether living or dead, developed only after the
death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC His own coin portraits are
therefore posthumous; the coins struck for Alexander during his
lifetime in which his features are merged with those of his ancestral
hero Heracles cannot be counted as true portraits.
Dia. 25.0 mm. Photo courtesy Registrar's Office, University of
Pennsylvania Museum. (large
version)
Silver Tetradrachm
ca. 302-301 BC
Seleucus I
Seleucia-on-Tigris miint
29-126-479, reverse
Enthroned Zeus holding a Nike or personification of Victory in his
outstretched right hand. The coin type is based, at least in a
generalized way, on the Phidian cult statue of Zeus at Olympia, which
by the end of the 4th century BC was perhaps the most famous statue
in the Greek world. Nothing of these colossal images has survived
antiquity intact. Of Phidias's masterpieces all that has been
preserved with certainty are a few sculptor's tools, molds and bits
of ivory excavated from his workshop at Olympia.
Photo courtesy Mediterranean Section, University of Pennsylvania
Museum. (large
version)
Silver Decadrachm
ca. 400-375 BC
Syracuse
29-126-41
Racing four-horse chariot with a flying Nike personifying Victory
crowning the driver. The space below is filled with captured Punic
arms. This spectacular coin may commemorate the victory of Dionysius
I over the Carthaginian general Himilcon and the deliverance of
Syracuse from its Punic siege in 396 BC The reverse of the coin is
signed by Euaenetus, one of the most renowned coin designers of
antiquity. Commemorative types became especially popular in the
Hellenistic period after Alexander's death in 323 BC
Dia. 34.0 mm. Photo courtesy Registrar's Office, University of
Pennsylvania Museum. (large
version)