RHODES Helios radiate head / Rose, ISIS Symbol. Ancient Greek Silver Drachm Coin

Description

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Ancient Greek Coinage
ISLANDS off CARIA, Rhodos
RHODES
Ca. 88-84 BC
Silver drachm 14.3mm,  2.61gm.
Plinthophoric standard. Thrasyme[des], magistrate.
Obverse: Raidate head of Helios right; Interestingly, the lock of hair at forehead mimics the Egyptian
Uraeus--
upreared cobra headdress--which parallels the Isis crown on reverse.
Reverse: Rose with bud to left; ΘPAΣIMH (Thrasyme[des]
in Greek
) above, P-O across fields; Isis crown to lower right; all within incuse square.
Ref. Jenkins, Rhodian 243; HN Online 895; HGC 6, 1461. XF bright metal.
Helios (identified with Apollo) was adopted as the patron diety of Rhodes upon the city's
foundation in
407 BC, & became the nearly universal obverse type of Rhodian coinage over
the following four centuries. The rose was a pun on the city's name ~
Rose
, Rhodon in Greek
,
a common
practice in Greek coinage.
The Rhodians built the famous statue of Helios known as Colossus of Rhodes.
T
he Colossus,
one of the Ancient Wonders of the World was toppled in a mas
s
ive earthquake in 226 BC, &
its remains lay on the ground for over 800 years
(Strabo 14.2.5) before being sold as scrap following the Arab Conquest in 654
(Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, De administrando imperio XX-XXI).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Images are not actual size ~ Please see description for actual measurements
.