Tetradrachm (coin)

Dateca. 449-413 B.C.

Place Made DisplayAthens Greece

MediumSilver (?)

DimensionsDiameter: 3/4 inches (1.9 cm)

CultureGreek

ClassificationsMetalwork

Credit LineGift of Jerry Theodorou, Class of 1979

Terms

Metalwork
Silver
Greek

Object number2003.013.010

Label CopyThe classic Athenian tetradrachm is perhaps the most famous and recognizable coin type from the entire ancient world. A portrait of the city’s patron goddess Athena graces the obverse of the coin, and the reverse displays the first three letters of the city’s name in Greek (Α Θ Ε), an olive branch, and an owl—all symbols intimately connected with Athena.

Owls, associated with keen vision and wisdom, are treated with some suspicion in Pliny’s Natural History:

[The owl] inhabits deserts and places that are not merely unfrequented but terrifying and inaccessible; a weird creature of the night, its cry is not a musical note but a scream. Consequently when seen in cities or by daylight in any circumstances it is a direful portent. (10.34)

(Olivia Graves, PhD student, “Wonder and Wakefulness: The Nature of Pliny the Elder,” exhibition organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, curated by Andrew C. Weislogel and Verity J. Platt, presented at the Johnson Museum January 21–June 11, 2023)

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