The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Tetradrachm: Head of Apollo (obverse); Head of Lion (reverse)

Tetradrachm: Head of Apollo (obverse); Head of Lion (reverse)

466–422 BCE
(Sicily)
silver
Diameter: 2.5 cm (1 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1917.988
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The lion on coins of Leontini marks a pun on the city name.

Description

The lion, king of the beasts and an animal associated with regal and heroic power, featured prominently on the coinage of many ancient Greek city-states. Artists placed the lion in a variety of poses, sometimes including the whole body, at other times the foreparts or just the head. Although it may once have roamed nearby, for many Greeks the lion was a monster nearly as exotic as the Chimaera, of which it formed a part, together with a goat head and snake-headed tail.
  • ?-1917
    (Charles T. Seltman, Berkhamsted, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
  • "Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 4 (1917): 64-67. Mentioned: p. 64 www.jstor.org
  • Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
  • {{cite web|title=Tetradrachm: Head of Apollo (obverse); Head of Lion (reverse)|url=false|author=|year=466–422 BCE|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1917.988