Cleveland Museum of Art

Tetradrachm: Head of Athena (obverse); Owl (reverse)

Date: 480–449 BCE
Medium: silver
Culture: Greek, minted at Athens (Attica)
Department: Greek and Roman Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 101482

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Incorporating the first three letters of the city name—ΑΘΕ—with then-iconic images of the patron goddess Athena and her owl, the Athenian tetradrachm was among the most widely traded and most recognizable coins of the ancient world. The olive leaves on Athena’s helmet and the small crescent moon behind the owl date this coin after the Persian Wars. The three letters on the reverse—ΑΘΕ—mark this as an Athenian coin.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: Gift of Harold W. Parsons

Part of a LinkedCulture topic

Ancient Greek Silver Tetradrachms
These objects are all tetradrachm coins, a standard ancient Greek silver denomination, depicting various deities and symbols from Greek city-states and territories across the Mediterranean.
333 objects from 3 institutions