Drachm (Coin) Depicting the Goddess Hera

350-220 BCE

Greek; minted in Knossos, Crete

The front (obverse) of this coin depicts the head of the goddess Hera facing left. The back (reverse) depicts a square labyrinth.

The city of Knossos drew its civic icon from the myth of the Minotaur. The monster, born to the queen of Crete, was hidden away in a labyrinth, or maze. Yearly he devoured youths and maidens until, with the help of a ball of string, the hero Theseus made his way to the center of the labyrinth. There he killed the Minotaur and used the string to find his way out of the maze. The story was so famous that anyone seeing the labyrinth on this coin knew that Knossos was its source.

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

Culture: Ancient Greek
Title: Drachm (Coin) Depicting the Goddess Hera
Place: Knossos (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.: Struck 350 BCE–220 BCE
Medium: Silver
Inscriptions: Reverse: ΚΝΩΣΙ Α Ρ
Dimensions: Diam.: 1.9 cm (3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
Reference Number: 1922.4914
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/5741/manifest.json

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, 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.

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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.