Artemis Arethusa Large Silver Pendant - Syracuse Coin - Persephone - Charioteer and Winged Nike - Ancient Greece

Arethusa, the patron nymph of Syracuse. Arethusa was a naiad (a water nymph) who frolicked in the vicinity of Olympia and who was desired and pursued by the river-god Alpheios . She appealed for assistance from Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt and the protector of women (the Roman Diana). Artemis transformed her into an underground stream emerging as a freshwater spring on the Sicilian island of Ortygia, the future site of Syracuse. Undaunted, Alpheios diverted his river’s flow underground to follow Arethusa, and both of their waters now mingle eternally in the Fountain of Arethusa in Ortygia. Arethusa is sometimes identified with Artemis, and also with Persephone, the Spring goddess. Her image on coins is usually accompanied by dolphins, which were common in the sea around Ortygia in classical times.

The coins of Arethusa are unarguably the most beautiful minted by the ancient Greeks. Their rapid artistic development from the archaic types at the beginning of the fifth century B.C. to the masterpieces of Kimon and Euainetos at the end of that century parallels the rapid development of Greek civilization during that period. It is hand- made in Greece, diameter size is 2.5 cm and weighs approximately 13 g. This pendant is without the chain(607A)