Art Institute of Chicago

Hecta (Coin) Depicting the Goddess Demeter

Greek, minted in Lesbos, probably Mytilene

Date

400-350 BCE

Medium

Electrum

Culture

Greece

Department

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The front (obverse) of this coin depicts the head of goddess Demeter facing right, veiled and crowned with grain; her hair is rolled at the brow and she wears a circular earring. The back (reverse) of the coin depicts a tripod lebes, with 3-ring handles from 2 of which hang knotted taenia. The island of Lesbos was famous for its writers, including the poets Alcaeus and Sappho, and for its cult of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. Visitors could bring their questions to Demeter’s temple, where an oracle answered them by reading cobwebs. In an unusual show of cooperation, the two rival cities of Mytilene and Phocaea agreed to share a mint, which produced this beautiful coin showing the island’s patron goddess crowned with a wreath of grain.

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