Catalog
Drachm
| Issuer | Gortyna |
|---|---|
| Year | 280 BC - 260 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Europa, nude to the waist and draped from the hips in a peplos, is depicted seated three-quarters to the right within the branches of a plane tree, her head turned to face the viewer. She extends her veil outward with her raised left hand while her right arm rests against the trunk of the tree. To the left, an eagle perches on a branch facing left, its head turned back to regard Europa — a mythological allusion to Zeus in his transformed guise. The composition is rendered in a fine early Hellenistic style characteristic of Cretan coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A bull stands in left profile, rendered in high relief with careful anatomical detail, its head turned back to gaze behind it — a pose known in numismatic literature as 'regardant'. The Greek ethnic legend ΓOPTYNIΩN curves around the upper field, identifying the issuing city of Gortyna in Crete. The compact, powerful modeling of the animal reflects the accomplished die-cutting tradition of Cretan mints during the early Hellenistic period. The field below is plain, with no exergual line. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΓOPTYNIΩN |
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