ARKADIA
STYMPHALOS
Silver Obol. Circa 370-350 BC.
11 mm
0,64 gr.
Obv: Head of youthful Herakles to left, wearing lion's skin headdress.
Rev: ΣTYMΦA Head and neck of crested water-bird to right.
BCD Peloponnesos 1694. BMC 4-5.
Chipped, otherwise VF
Rare
The types of this fine coin directly refers to the Sixth Labor of Herakles. The obverse depicts the hero and demigod himself, wearing the pelt of the Nemean lion on his head. The reverse shows the fearsome head of a Stymphalos marsh-bird, said to be have been raised by Ares and which were sacred to Artemis. After fleeing from wolves, the birds had infested a swamp in Arkadia and were terrorizing the countryside by destroying crops as well as people. Their beaks were of bronze, and they had sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims, as well as poisonous dung. Herakles used a krotala (similar to a castanet) made by the god Hephaistos specifically for this purpose to scare the birds into flight, which he then shot with his arrows which had been dipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra he had slain earlier. He killed many, and the rest flew away, leaving Arkadia at peace once again.
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