Catalog
Drachm
| Issuer | Gortyna |
|---|---|
| Year | 250 BC - 200 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Europa seated upon the back of a galloping bull advancing to the right, her drapery and hair flowing dynamically behind her in the wind, conveying vigorous motion. The mythological scene alludes to the abduction of Europa by Zeus in the guise of a bull, a subject of particular civic importance to Gortyna, which claimed to be the site of the union. The ethnic legend ΓΟΡΤΥΝΙΩΝ is inscribed in the field, divided to the left and below the central device, reading partially on each side. The composition is enclosed within a dotted border. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Gortyna was one of Crete's most powerful poleis during this period, and its coinage reflects an independent mint tradition distinct from the island's other major issuers. The city's drachms from this era were produced during a time of shifting Cretan alliances, as the island's city-states navigated pressures from Macedonian successor kingdoms and increasingly assertive Roman interest in the eastern Mediterranean.
Weight variation among Gortynian silver of this period can be significant, as the city followed a local Cretan standard rather than the Aeginetan or Attic systems dominant elsewhere in Greece.