Just the god of the sea? The iconography of Poseidon on the Archaic and Classical Greek coins (part I)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2448-1750.revmae.2025.227413Keywords:
Poseidon, trident, Greek coin iconography, apotropaism, identityAbstract
In this article, we present the development of the representation of Poseidon on coins issued by Greek cities during the Archaic and Classical periods, with the aim of understanding to what extent his depiction in monetary evidence was innovative compared to that in painted ceramics and sculptures. To this end, we identify which Greek cities and regions produced the most images of Poseidon on coins during these periods, as well as the specific periods of greatest usage. We also establish general patterns of representation of these images in Archaic and Classical Greek art to understand their symbolic meaning and their specificity on coins through a comparative study, correlating archaeological documentation with literary sources. Based on an extensive and unprecedented documentary survey of this god and his principal attribute, the trident, this research brings forth the main conclusions regarding the imagery of Poseidon, which, surprisingly, has not been systematically studied until now, making this deity and his principal attribute, despite being widely known in the modern West, very poorly understood. Furthermore, our goal is to highlight the potential of coins as objects of analysis for both archaeological and historical research.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Vinícius Bonifácio Guimarães, Dra. Lilian de Angelo Laky
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Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Grant numbers Processo 2020/12000-9
