Drachm (Coin) Depicting the Gorgon Medusa

411/356 BC

Greek; minted in Neapolis, ancient Macedon, Greece

Obverse: Gorgon’s head with neat, tight curls
Reverse: Head of Parthenos of Neapolis laureate to right

The three Gorgon sisters were winged deities of which Medusa is the most famous. She bore the winged horse Pegasus to her love, the god Poseidon. Her head, cut off by Perseus, was worn by Athena as her protective aegis. Neopolis, in a horse-breeding area, chose Pegasus’ mother for their coin.

On View: Ancient and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151

Artist: Ancient Greek
Title: Drachm (Coin) Depicting the Gorgon Medusa
Origin: Neapolis
Date: 411 BC–356 BC
Medium: Silver
Inscriptions: Reverse: Ν Ε Ο Π "Neop[oliton]"
Dimensions: Diam. 1.5 cm; 3.71 g
Credit Line: Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
Reference Number: 1922.4922

Gross-Diaz, Theresa, “Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1 (1994), pp. 45, no. 29, 48 (ill).
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago, by Karen Manchester (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2012), p. 29.
Elizabeth Hahn Benge, “From Aegina to Andronicus: A Survey of Coinage at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Historia Mundi n. 5 (January 2016), p. 206-7 (fig. 8).

The Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 155, April 20, 1994 - February 22, 2004 and May 16, 2004 - February 6, 2012.
Houston, Texas, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Centaur’s Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art, February 22 – May 16, 2004.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Neither Man nor Beast: Animal Images on Ancient Coins, August 29, 2007-February 2012.
The 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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