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Ancient Greek Coinage

ISLANDS off CARIA, Rhodos

RHODES

Ca. 88-84 BC


Silver drachm 17mm at widest,  2.31gm.

Plinthophoric standard. Euphanes, magistrate.

Obverse: Radiate head of Helios right.

Reverse: Rose with bud to left; EYΦANHΣ (Euphanes in Greek) above, P-O across fields; Isis crown to lower right; all within incuse square.

Ref. Jenkins, Rhodian Group E, 240; HGC 6, 1461. VF, bright silver--much brighter than images suggest, well centered. 

Helios (identified with Apollo) was adopted as the patron diety of Rhodes upon the city's foundation in 407 BC, & became the nearly universal obverse type of Rhodian coinage over the following four centuries.
The rose was a pun on the city's name ~
Rose, Rhodon in Greek--a common practice in Greek coinage.
The Rhodians built the famous statue of Helios known as Colossus of Rhodes. The Colossus, one of the Ancient Wonders of the World was toppled in a massive earthquake in 226 BC, its remains lay on the ground for over 800 years (Strabo 14.2.5) before being sold as scrap following the Arab Conquest in 654 (Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, De administrando imperio XX-XXI).

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Images are not actual size ~ Please see description for actual measurements.