View
reverse of coin
Stater. Obverse: Zeus
343-323 B.C.
Elis, Peloponnesus
Silver
Diameter - 23 mm; weight - 11.59 g
The most powerful figure of Olympus was Zeus - the "father
of the gods and mortals" and ruler of the world - and naturally
his image often appeared on the coins of various cities in the Greek
world. We should, however, understand that of all the gods he was the
most remote from people's everyday lives. He was to be worshipped, honoured
and feared, but would brook no familiarity. As a result, despite the
enormous number of depictions of him on coins, they are not particularly
varied.
Usually the head of Zeus was impressed on the obverse
of a coin. He was always presented as a mature man with a beard and
a fine head of hair, as on the coin from the city-state of Elis shown
here. Differences can be found only in the plants making up the god's
wreath. For the most part this was, as on the Hermitage coin, a laurel
wreath, like those that usually adorned the heads of other gods.
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