Step 1 of 6

Who’s this guy?

Related Images

  • Fig. 1. Depiction of gods and heroes: a trend. Silver coin of Methymna (450-406 BCE). (Obverse) Head of Athena in Attic helmet - American Numismatics Society [1975.218.45](http://numismatics.org/collection/1975.218.45?lang=en)
  • Fig. 2. Depiction of gods and heroes: a trend. Evagoras I of Salamis (Cyprus, 411-374 BCE). (Obverse) Heracles’ head, bearded, with lion skin - Münzkabinett Berlin [18217644](https://ikmk.smb.museum/object?lang=en&id=18217644&view=vs)
  • Fig. 3. Depiction of the monarch. Lysimachus (305-281 BCE). Head of (deified) Alexander the Great, diademed and wearing a ram's horn - British Museum [1919,0820.1](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1919-0820-1)

“The king!” you might exclaim, influenced by modern coinage. The answer is no.

Stasioikos, the king of the kingdom of Marion, located in the north-western part of Cyprus, decided to depict Apollo on the front side (obverse) of his coin, following the trend of other Cypriot kingdoms during the 5th and early 4th century BCE. Generally, the depiction of gods and heroes was a common practice in ancient Greek coinage (Fig.1) and Cypriot coins of other kingdoms (Fig.2).

The practice of depicting the monarch’s portrait on coinage was systematically followed much later, by the kings of the Hellenistic kingdoms (end of 4th century onwards) (Fig.3).