archaicwonder: disappearinthemoonlight: archaicwonder: Very Rare Greek Coin - One Of The Largest Kno
archaicwonder:disappearinthemoonlight:archaicwonder:Very Rare Greek Coin - One Of The Largest Known This is the finest of three known Greek silver tetradrachms of this rare type from Eretria, Euboea (map) struck circa 525-500 BC, with a very large diameter of 36 mm. It shows a bull with it’s hind hoof raised to touch its nose. A swallow sits on his back with an E in retrograde below. The reverse has an octopus in an incuse square.Eretria counts among the first cities in Greece proper to strike their own silver coins along with Athens, Chalcis and Karystos. Analysis of several hoards has shown that the earliest coins struck in Eretria were contemporary with the first Athenian Owl coins.The representation of a cow recalls the myth of Io. The young woman, after the birth of her son Epaphos by Zeus, was changed into a cow by Hera who wanted to take revenge on her unfaithful husband. According to one tradition, Epaphos was born in Euboea. As for the octopus, it probably alludes to the city’s maritime activities.My fandom brain couldn’t help but scream HAIL HYDRA.This organisation is definitely one of the most ancient ever. LOL! How did I not see the resemblance when I first posted the coin??? Hydra IS more ancient and clandestine than previously thought! For real though, joking aside, this seems to be an instance when art imitates life. The Nazis (the real ones, not the Marvelverse Nazis in the Avengers) really did take something from the ancient world and turn it into something evil. Case in point, the Nazis stole the swastika from ancient sources like the following Corinthian Greek coin from 6th century BC:Here are some more examples: 4th century BC Macedonian helmet and Minoan pottery.The oldest swastika pattern so far was found in Ukraine carved on a mammoth ivory from 10,000 BC. In fact the swastika can be found all over ancient Europe and North Africa, as well as ancient cultures around the world, including the Native Americans. The swastika had no political meaning in ancient times and may have just been a simple symbol used to represent the sun.I know I went off on a bit of a tangent here but I thought it was historically relevant. Because they are so similar, this has me wondering if Marvel really did design the logo for Hydra based on this coin? (Though technically, the mythological Hydra wasn’t an octopus, it was a multi-headed sea monster). Perhaps Marvel was inspired by the way the real Nazis ripped off the ancient world? If so, bravo Marvel for attention to detail. But I really don’t know, maybe I’m overthinking it here. Anyhow, when it comes to the actual Nazis in the real world, I loathe the way they used an ancient symbol that was at one time beautiful and made it into something repulsive. -- source link
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