A Medusa, Gorgon, Gorgoneion thread: When good girls turn really bad.

[Ryro]

Nobody, but nobody got a more raw deal in ancient mythology than Medusa (smidgen of hyperbole here. But not much).

(her severed head always seeming to express the same look as women after they've been on dates with me)

 

It's your basic love story; Pure, innocent, beautiful girl gets preyed upon, stalked and raped by Poseidon. Then for having the nerve to be raped by a god, Athena turns her into one of the three gorgon sisters. And she being the only one that cannot die. Not enough for Athena though. After turning her into a snake haired monster with vampire-like teeth so hideous to behold she turns all who gaze upon her into stone, Athena helps Perseus to kill the sad young girl she'd turned immortal all those eons ago.

(Now I forget which one is the original Cellini and which my tiny imitation)

Just to take her severed head, upon receiving it from Perseus, and attach it to her shield. Hence the term Gorgoneion, the symbol of a Gorgon's head as an embellishment..

Where else have we seen this motif??

But wait, there's a happy ending. As Perseus decapitates her two children that couldn't come out of her stony vaginal canal, for some reason, burst from her severed neck! The giant Chrysaor aaaaaand THE ZEUS DAMNED PEGASOS!!! And poor, poor Medusa doesn't even get to meet her two amazing progeny.

Let's see your Gorgons... in all their glory!

Edited January 13, 2023 by Ryro

[AncientOne]

Entertaining as always @Ryro  

 

Lycaonia, Iconium. Æ15. Pseudo-autonomous, c. AD 69-96.

Obv: Winged head of Medusa facing.
Rev: ΚΛΑΥΔЄΙΚΟΝΙЄѠΝ, Kybele seated to left, holding patera and resting arm on drum.
RPC II 1608B

 

Pontos. Amisos. Æ25. Time of Mithradates VI Eupator circa 120-63 BC.

Obv: Aegis with Gorgon's head at center.
Rev: AΜΙ-ΣΟΥ, Nike advancing right, holding wreath and palm branch, monogram to right.

 

Cillica, Mallos. AE12 (4th century BC).

Obv: ΠΥ. Head of river god Pyramos right, wearing grain wreath.
Rev: ΜΑΛ. Facing gorgoneion.

[ominus1]

...right off the flip here's 2 Gorgon silver hemidrachms  from ancient Parion Mysia in the BC....i'll be back with more later...^^

[Deinomenid]

While I always thought Apollo’s treatment of Marsyas ranked up there with the cruelty shown to Medusa, here’s a Kamarina nod to the latter.

 

SICILY. Kamarina. Ae Tetras or Trionkion (Circa 420-405 BC).
Obv: Facing gorgoneion.
Rev: KAMA.
Owl standing left, holding lizard; in exergue three pellets.
CNS 20; HGC 2, 547

Edited January 13, 2023 by Deinomenid
Spelling.

[Roman Collector]

The only gorgons I have are these two from Amisos.

Pontus, Amisos, c. 85-65 BC?
Greek Æ 19.6 mm, 8.39 g, 12 h.
Obv: Aegis, with Gorgon's head at center.
Rev: Nike advancing right, carrying palm branch with filet, ΑΜΙ-ΣΟΥ across field, Monogram ᛦ to right.
Refs: cf. Sear 3642; cf. BMC 13.19-20,62-78.

Pontus, Amisos, c. 85-65 BC?
AE 21.1 mm, 6.24 g, 12 h.
Obv: Aegis, with Gorgon's head at center.
Rev: Nike advancing right, carrying palm brance with filet, ΑΜΙ-ΣΟΥ across field, Monograms to left and right.
Refs: Sear 3642, BMC 13.20, 77-78 (?).

 

 

[kirispupis]

Nice idea for a thread.

Here's one I picked up recently.

Macedon, Neapolis
Circa 375-350 BCE
AR Hemidrachm 1.75g, 13mm, 10h
Facing gorgoneion, with tongue protruding
Head of nymph to right; [N]-E-O-[Π] around; all within incuse.
SNG Copenhagen 227-8; SNG ANS 453; HGC 3.1, 588.
Ex J. Greiff Collection
Ex Roma

[DonnaML]

I have only two coins that fit:

Thrace, Apollonia Pontika [now Sozopol, Bulgaria], AR Drachm, ca. 450-500 BCE. Obv. Upright anchor with large flukes and curved stock; “A” [for Apollonia] to left and crayfish to right between flukes and stock  / Rev. Facing gorgoneion (Medusa), wavy hair parted in middle, 16 thin, open-mouthed snakes around head as additional hair or crown, puffy cheeks, mouth open, tongue protruding (but not extending below chin), all within shallow incuse. Goldsborough Type 3 [Goldsborough, Reid, "Apollonia Pontika Drachms" (see https://web.archive.org/web/20141115000124/http://medusacoins.reidgold.com/apollonia.html), Catalogue of Types]; Seaby 1655 var. (crayfish to left, A to right) [Sear, David, Greek Coins and their Values, Vol. 1: Europe (Seaby 1978); Topalov 41-42 [Topalov, Stavri, Apollonia Pontika: Contribution to the Study of the Coin Minting of the City 6th - 1st c. B.C., Catalogue of Apollonia Coins, 7th-1st c. B.C. (Sofia, 2007) (English Translation, Kindle edition)]; BMC 15 Mysia 8-10 [Wroth, Warwick, A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 15, Mysia (London, 1892) at pp. 8-9]; SNG.BM.159; see also id. Nos. 154-158  [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Great Britain, Volume IX, British Museum, Part 1: The Black Sea (London, 1993)] [online ID SNGuk_0901_0159 ]. 14 mm., 2.96 g., 3 h.

L. Plautius Plancus (photo of obverse only). Banker's marks around Medusa's mouth.

[Shea19]

Some beauties in this thread…I think I may need to get some more gorgons in my collection.  

The Perseus/Medusa type is one of my favorites:

Pontos, Amisos, Time of Mithradates VI Eupator, circa 100-85 BC. (AE, 30 mm, 19.58 g). Head of Athena to r., wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with Pegasus./ Rev.AMI-ΣOY Perseus standing facing, holding harpa in his right hand and head of Medusa in his left; Medusa's body at his feet, monograms to lower left and right.

[shanxi]

A cute Gorgon

Parion, Mysia
Hemidrachm
4th century BC
Obv.: Facing gorgoneion surrounded by snakes
Rev.: ΠΑ / ΡΙ, Bull standing left, head reverted. Monogram below
Ag, 13mm, 2.27g
Ref.: SNG France 1390

[Kaleun96]

@Ryro do you mind adding a NSFW tag to the title? The last cartoon isn't exactly office-friendly.

[maridvnvm]

Pontos, Amisos, AE20

Obv:– Aegis with facing Gorgon in the centre
Rev:- AMI-SOY, Nike advancing right, holding palm over shoulder with both hands. monogram to right
Minted in Amisos, Pontos. ca 100 B.C.
Reference:– BMC 74?

Apollonia Pontika, Silver Drachm, SNG Cop 454

Obv:– Facing Gorgoneion, wearing taenia?.
Rev:– Inverted anchor, crayfish left, A right
Minted in Apollonia Pontika. 450 – 400 B.C.
Reference:– SNG Cop 454

Mysia, Parion, Silver hemidrachm

Obv:– Facing Gorgoneion, surrounded by snakes.
Rev:– PA / RI, bull standing left, looking back right
Minted in Parion, 350 - 300 B.C.
Reference:– BMC Mysia p. 95, 14
2.427g, 13.8mm

[arizonarobin]

A thread I can get into! One of my very first purchases 22 years ago was a Medusa Aegis type and my nickname was Medusa at the time also. 😆

Here are a few of mine:

 

I would love to add one of the Perseus/Medusa type one day and perhaps find better examples than these that I collected so early on!

[Severus Alexander]

My favourite Medusas:

^Plautius Plancus denarius, c. 47 BCE

^Lycaonia: Iconium, AE14. Extremely rare, unlisted in RPC.

Amisos, time of Mithradates VI. One of the first coins to be struck in brass/orichalcum.

[Jay GT4]

A typical gorgoneion...

Gorgoneion

ΠA PI
Bull standing left, head turned to look back; kerykeion below

Mysia, Parion
350-300 BC
SNG BN -. Symbol not recorded in the standard reference.
2.20g

And here's one as an Aegis:

AVT KAIΣAΡ ΔOMITIANOΣ ΣEB ΓEΡM
Laureate head right; aegis at point of bust

ETOYΣ NEOY IEPOY H (date; year 8 )
Eagle standing right on thunderbolt, with wings spread; palm frond to right.

SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Antioch, 88/89 AD
13.61g; 29 mm
McAlee 398; Prieur 145; RPC II 1978.
Ex-Zurqieh
Wonderful style with fine detailed Aegis/Gorgon head

Edited January 14, 2023 by Jay GT4

[Ed Snible]

@maridvnvm I suspect your "Amisis" is a Scythian imitation.  http://digitalhn.blogspot.com/2015/12/imitations-of-bronze-coinage-of-pontos.html

 

L. Plautius Plancus. 47 B.C. AR denarius (18 mm, 3.62 g). Brockage strike. Rome.
Obv: L · PLAV[TIV]S below, head of Medusa facing
Rev: Incuse of obverse.
Classical Numismatic Group, e-auction 59, February 2003, lot 131.

[Qcumbor]

On 1/13/2023 at 12:47 AM, Ryro said:

(her severed head always seeming to express the same look as women after they've been on dates with me)

What ?
She looks really disappointed 😄 😄 

Cool writeup and coins anyway, and I can't compete here 😉 

Q

[ominus1]

...i'm tellin' ya, there's some seriously good lQQkin'(check out the oxymoron paradox! :P) Gorgons and Medusa's here..:D

 

L Plautius Plancus  moneyer, 47BC. 17mm 3.64gms

[Ryro]

A bit of irony; the silly Medusa cartoon that was removed was the reason I put this little thread together. Finding less motivation and time to share these days. Oh well, hopefully many more laughed than let a hilarious cartoon offend them.

Here's a gorgoneion I picked up yesterday on the cheap. It's a type I already have but am interested to see how she cleans up:

[Severus Alexander]

Here's a competitor for the most harmless looking gorgon on this obol from Selge:

[maridvnvm]

On 1/14/2023 at 11:24 PM, Severus Alexander said:

Here's a competitor for the most harmless looking gorgon on this obol from Selge:

If you saw that obverse out of context you would think it to be Apollo.

[Monolith]

Just got this one. Love how you can track the influence of Miletus across the Greek world just by looking for their unique iconography (various flavors of the evil eye/gorgon/panthers/etc). And man, nothing beats holding a huge coin in your hands!

Has anyone attempted to "mold match" any of these large cast coins from Olbia? Supposedly molds weren't reused in antiquity, but you never know: 

 

[Ed Snible]

@Monolith I have seen Olbia bronze duplicates.

I don't know if the mold is re-used, or the same "mother" was used to create duplicate molds.

[ewomack]

I have an obol that refers to the obverse as "Gorgeoneion," but the face gives off a more ghostly, friendly, nurturing aura. It certainly wouldn't turn anyone to stone. Someone in another thread explained that the later gorgons lost a lot of their earlier nastiness. This would probably be a good example of that.

Pisidia; Seige; c. 250 - 190 BCE; AR Obol; 0.89 grams; Obv: Facing gorgeoneion; Rev: Helmented head of Athena right,
astragalos to left; SNG Ashmolean 1546 - 50, SNG BN 1948-54

Edited February 9, 2023 by ewomack

[Monolith]

Any suggestions for reading more about these coins? The APIX on the back seems to be an ongoing mystery, some writers claiming it's the name of a Scythian-supported tyrant as Scythia's influence expanded in the wake of Darius' unsuccessful expedition there (turning Olbia into a client), others that the letters should actually be read as an abbreviation for AP[δῐς] (arrowhead) and IX[θύς] (fish) and therefore being just a reference to the earlier proto-money that circulated (arrowheads and dolphins/fish), or perhaps a reference to the source of Olbia's wealth... still others mostly ignore the APIX (or conclude that it's just the name of a magistrate), and focus instead on the Gorgon, claiming that it's a sign that Perikles did in fact journey north and bring Olbia into the Delian League (the Gorgon being a reference to Athena's aegis/shield).

Personally I think it's all overwrought and just indicative of the general East Greek (and specifically Milesian) love of the "evil eye" protophilosophy, but very interested if there are any other theories or suggestions out there!

[Monolith]

7 hours ago, Ed Snible said:

@Monolith I have seen Olbia bronze duplicates.

I don't know if the mold is re-used, or the same "mother" was used to create duplicate molds.

Oh and yes, that's also a good point! There are so many good fakers of coins from this region it would be nice to have a more comprehensive study...