Nomos 38

KYRENAIKA. Kyrene. Circa 500-480 BC. Drachm (Silver, 14 mm, 4.15 g, 12 h), Attic standard. Silphium fruit; border of dots. Rev. Winged figure of Kyrene as the πότνια θηρών (=Lady or Mistress of the Animals) standing facing, her head to left, apparently holding, with each hand, a stag (or a gazelle?) hanging down by her side; on either side, below her wings, three pellets; the whole within a square dotted frame in an incuse square. BMC p. xxv, 18c and pl. IV, 6 = SNG Copenhagen 1166. Extremely rare. Minor marks and scuffs, otherwise, very fine.

Kyrene was the daughter of the Thessalian king Hypseus, and according to some sources, a sister of the nymph Larissa. She was renowned for her hunting abilities (according to Nonnos, she was second only to Artemis in hunting lions). Abducted by Apollo, he carried her off to north Africa where he not only founded a city, Kyrene, in her honor, but also changed her into a nymph to prolong her life. It would be interesting to know when Kyrene gained her wings: were they yet another gift from Apollo? For Kyrene as Potnia Theron see, F. Studniczka, Kyrene, Eine Altgriechische Göttin, Leipzig 1890, pp. 153ff. For another coin with a similar reverse, but struck a generation or two later, see Nomos 37, 2025, 211.