Tetradrachm (Coin) Depicting the Goddess Persephone

310-307 BCE

Greek, minted in Syracuse, Sicily

The front (obverse) of this coin depicts the head of Persephone facing right with a crown of grain. The back (reverse) depicts Nike seminude holding a hammer and facing a trophy.

The city of Syracuse, which produced some of the most beautiful coins in antiquity, was thought to be the site of the abduction of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. The god Hades (Roman Pluto) snatched the girl and returned to the underworld, intending to keep her as his wife. Her distraught mother caused the crops to wither until she won agreement that Persephone could return to her once a year, bringing with her the season of spring, symbolized by the circle of grain in the maiden’s hair.

Status: On View, Gallery 151
Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Greek
Title: Tetradrachm (Coin) Depicting the Goddess Persephone
Place: Syracuse (Minted in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 310 BCE–307 BCE
Medium: Silver
Inscriptions: Obverse: ΚΟΡΑΣ Reverse: [ΑΓΑΘΟ]ΚΛΕΙΟΣ
Dimensions: Diam.: 2.8 cm (1 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
Reference Number: 1922.4908
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/111011/manifest.json

Theresa Gross-Diaz, in John Griffiths Pedley, Greek Art, Museum Studies: Ancient Art at The Art Institute of Chicago 20, no. 1 (1994), p. 53 (ill.), no. 36.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 29.

Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 155, 1994 - February 22, 2004 and May 16, 2004 - February 2012.
Museum of Fine Arts Houston “The Centaur’s Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art,” February 22 – May 16, 2004.
Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151, November 11, 2012 - present.

Martin A. Ryerson (1856-1932), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Tetradrachm (Coin) Depicting the Goddess Persephone

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.