Moneta Gallery Coin Museum



Users 22,369
Photos 3,381
Comments 351
Views 16,201,274
Disk Space 346.4mb

SunMon TueWed ThuFri Sat
  12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Moneta 2452
Zantetsuken 293
Chinacash 170
stretrader99z 133
numismatist6 100

Copy_of_OWLBLACK.jpg
ATTICA ATHENS
stretrader99z

[ Greek ]
BLACKSEA_HOARD_COIN.jpg
THRACE, Apollonia Po
stretrader99z

[ Greek ]
Pampylia.jpg
Pamphylia - Aspendos
Moneta

[ Greek ]
81tanit1.jpg
CARTHAGE
stretrader99z

[ Greek ]
small_PTOLEMY_IV_PHILOPATOR.jpg
PTOLEMY IV PHILOPATO
stretrader99z

[ Greek ]
db_file_img_167879_544x262.jpg
Phoenicia - Sidon Di
Moneta

[ Greek ]
· more ·

 

« Previous image · Next image »

TanitCarthage
Carthage - Tanit & Horse Head, Sardinia

« Previous image  · Slide Show · Next image »

Moneta



Registered: August 2005
Location: Arizona USA
Posts: 2,365
users gallery
Head of Astarte (Persephone) (Tanit in Phoenician - Carthage mythology), wearing wreath of barley or wheat and wearing 3 prong earrings. Rx: Horses head right in front of Phoenician letter 'I'. Probably from the mint in Sardinia. 5.18 g and ~ 25 mm. Catalog references: A.57 m - Cop.175 var. - CNP.252 ah - Müller305 variety.
The obverse type is traditionally described as the head of Tanit, a North African goddess adopted by the Carthaginians as a local form of the Phoenician deity, Astarte. She became the chief goddess of the Carthaginian pantheon as the consort of Ba'al-Hammon, the supreme male deity of Carthage. She was a goddess of fertility as well as of war, which made her an appropriate figure to appear on money struck for military purposes. The benefaction of Tanit was sometimes invoked through the terrible rite of child sacrifice. Infants were placed alive into the sloping hands of her cult statue, only to roll down into a fire pit below. This ultimate sacrifice was thought to bring great blessings upon worshippers of the goddess, but was generally condemned by Greeks, Romans, and Persians. Ironically, the depiction of the very un-Greek Tanit is strongly influenced by the representations of Persephone popular on the silver coinage of Greek Syracuse in the fourth century B.C. Over the course of the long struggle between Carthage and Syracuse for control of Sicily, the Carthaginians were exposed to Syracusan coinage and took it as a model for their own. The horse on the reverse may refer to the foundation myth of Carthage ("New City" in Phoenician). It is reported that when the Tyrian queen, Dido, set out to establish her new city, diggers initially uncovered the head of an ox. This was interpreted as a sign that a city built on that site would be wealthy but subject to others. Unsatisfied, she had her builders consider a different site. When work began on the new site, the excavators dug up the head of a horse. This omen was read as a sign that a city there would become great in war. It was therefore decided to found Carthage on the second site. Thus, the horse on Carthaginian coins can be understood to have a double usage, both as an emblem of the city and as an appropriate symbol for a military coinage. (source: Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 110 Catalog)
· Date: April 16, 2023 · Views: 898 · Filesize: 100.0kb · Dimensions: 840 x 417 ·
Keywords: Carthage Tanit Horse Head Sardinia

ANC_Phoenicia_Byblus-Azbaal.jpg
TanitCarthage.jpg
Cappadocia1.jpg
Rom_PontiusPilatus.jpg
Anc_Persia_Daric.jpg
Anc_Grk_Mysia_Kyzikos_Diobol.jpg
Egypt_CleopatraVII.jpg
Egypt_Nektanebo_gold.jpg
Phoenicia_Tyre_Owlegypt.jpg
Sass_Ardeshir-I_drachm.jpg
Apollonia_Pontika_Gorgon.jpg
Carth_Hannibal.jpg
db_file_img_167879_544x262.jpg
Phoenicia_TyreOwl.jpg
Phoenicia_Sidon.jpg
Judea1st_Revolt.jpg
Judea_WidowMite.jpg
Phoe_Tyre_Shek.jpg
NewImage.jpg
Aegis.jpg
Miletos.jpg
more »


Photo Sharing Gallery by PhotoPost
Copyright © 2007 All Enthusiast, Inc.

No portion of this page, text, images or code, may be copied, reproduced, published or distributed in any medium without the expressed written permission of the copyright holder.