Cleveland Museum of Art

Tetradrachm: Quadriga (obverse); Head of Arethousa (reverse)

Date

c. 430–420 BCE

Medium

silver

Culture

Greek, minted at Syracuse (Sicily)

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The rightmost horse of a chariot team dominates the obverse of this coin, while the other three are suggested only by contours. On the reverse, four dolphins should surround Arethousa, but poor positioning during the striking process has left off one and most of another. The lumps around the horses’ front legs suggest a die defect. Arethousa’s banded hairstyle provides remarkable contemporaneous evidence of ancient Greek women’s fashions.

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