Getty Museum

Double Siglos

Date

about 425–400 B.C.

Medium

Silver

Culture

Greek

Department

Coins

Institution

Getty Museum

A youth dismounting from his horse on the front and a goat on the back decorate this double siglos, or shekel, in Persian. Both images are emblems of Celenderis, a Greek city in Cilicia, in southeast Anatolia, which was subject to the Persian empire. Coins were minted there from about 450 until 300 B.C. The dismounting horseman is the only type of image used on the fronts of the city's coinage. A goat is always on the back. On the earlier coins only the forepart of the goat appears; after that, the entire animal is depicted. Always present on the back is a Greek abbreviation--Kel, Kele, or Kelen--of the city's name, which connects with the two images on the coin, both apparently meant as puns on Celenderis: in Greek, a race-horse was "keles," and certain goats were known as "kelades." This coin is disfigured by a piece that has been carved out of the back.

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