View reverse
of coin
Stater. Obverse: Demeter
330-320 B.C.
Olbia
Silver
Diameter - 24 mm; weight - 11.97 g
Demeter was one of the most venerated goddesses of Ancient
Greece, because she was the Mother Earth, the giver of all blessings,
especially grain, which, along with fish, was the staple food of the
ancient Greeks. She can be counted among the most ancient female great
goddesses, such as Gaea, Cybele or the Great Mother of the gods, who
gave the soil, animals and people the power of fertility. This quiet,
modest goddess spent little time on Olympus, preferring to live among
mortals, especially in Eleusis, where at her behest King Celeus had
a temple constructed in her honour. Demeter taught him to perform the
secret rites that became known as the Eleusinian Mysteries.
People happily placed a depiction of such a kind goddess
so close to mortals on their money, not only reckoning that this would
save the coins from defacement, but also hoping that the goddess would
grant their city wealth and prosperity. Most often on the obverse of
a coin she is shown in the guise of a young woman with long hair adorned
by a wreath of ears of grain, as on this stater from the town of Olbia.
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