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Ancient Greek Coinage

CALABRIA Tarentum

c. 325-280 BC

Silver Diobol 12mm, 1.14gm.  Very Small Coin--a Dime is 17.9mm

Obverse: Helmeted head of Athena right.

Reverse: depicts the first of the Twelve labors of Herakles ~  Herakles kneeling right on right leg, holding club with right hand, strangling the Nemean lion with left.

Ref. HN Italy 976; Vlasto 1343; SNG ANS 1430.

Very Fine. Very attractive reverse, overall bright silver~Small coin shown greatly enlarged.

The depiction of Herakles on the reverse of this coin places the hero in a typical fighting stance of the Greek martial discipline Pankration, or Pammachon (total combat) as it was earlier known. Indeed, this fighting style was said to have been the invention of Herakles and Theseus as a result of their using both wresting and boxing in their encounters with opponents. The stance portrayed on this coin is paralleled on an Attic black-figure vase in the British Museum depicting two competitors, one in a choke hold similar to that of the lion here. The composition of this deisgn is very deliberate - as the lion leaps forwards, Herakles who had been facing the lion, turns his body sideways. The myths tell us that Herakles had first stunned the beast with his club, and now he dodges the lion's bite and reaches his right arm around its head to place it in a choke hold.

The Twelve Labors of Hercules

The Twelve Labors of Herakles is a myth about the labors that Herakles (Hercules) had to perform as a part of his sentence after killing his own children.

Being one of the offsprings of Zeus’ affairs, Hercules has always been subject of Hera’s hatred. Hera tried to kill Hercules many times throughout his adventures or at the very least made everything in her power to torture him. It was one of those times when Hera made Hercules lose his mind temporarily and Hercules killed his own children during this craze. After a short while he was awakened from his state of madness and realized what he did in great sorrow and regret. He sought guidance from Apollo and was told by Apollo’s oracle that his punishment would be serving his cousin and archenemy, Eurystheus, the king of Mycenae and Tiryns for twelve years.

Hercules was assigned to perform twelve labors/tasks which were considered almost impossible to be fulfilled. However, Hercules managed to perform these labors successfully thanks to the help he got from Athena and Hermes. Having performed these labors was, indeed, the reason why Hercules has been rewarded with immortality in the end.

First Labor: Killing the Nemean Lion The first labor Eurystheus assigned Hercules to was slaying the Nemean Lion and bringing back his skin. The Nemean lion was a very powerful beast born from Typhon and Echidna. It was a beast that could only be harmed by human hand and no other weapon could hurt it. Hercules realized that the beast was invulnerable after shooting him with an arrow and he went into the cave the beast lived in, held his neck tight and choked the Nemean Lion to the death. Hercules brought back the lion’s skin to Eurystheus and set on to fulfill his second task.