Greek Coinage and the Polis pg3

The most popular patron deities were the Olympian gods worshipped by all Greeks. The chief deities, Zeus and Hera, were widely worshipped, although nowhere more famously than at Elis, which controlled their major panhellenic sanctuary at Olympia (nos. 31, 32). Other cities had their own local sanctuaries dedicated to them; Kroton claimed Hera as a patron because the sanctuary of Hera Lacinia stood on the nearby promontory of Cape Colonna (no. 5). Athena, the eponymous goddess of Athens, where her panhellenic sanctuary stood on its famous Akropolis, naturally appeared on her coins (no. 30). Demeter, goddess of agriculture, had sanctuaries wherever agriculture and particularly grain were major concerns, and so she was naturally at home in cities like Metapontion, whose wealthy economy depended upon its trade in barley (no. 4). Sanctuaries dedicated to Hermes, the messenger god, were not widespread, but for a trading outpost like Ainos his associations with commerce made him an appropriate patron (nos. 26, 27). Apollo was the most popular patron deity of all the Olympians (nos. 6, 9, 12, 13, 23, 25, 34), particularly in the western colonies, because his oracle at Delphi had played an important role in directing the foundation of their cities.

But many poleis preferred to depict gods whose significance was primarily local. Helios, the sun god, was not widely worshipped in Greece, but he had an important cult on Rhodes (no. 36). Kyrene worshipped the horned Zeus Ammon (no. 39), the chief imperial god of nearby Egypt, which controlled Kyrene for much of its history, as well as a horned version of Apollo, Apollo Karneios (no. 40). Many Greek cities identified strongly with local river gods and nymphs, female nature spirits primarily associated with rivers and other water sources. Perhaps the most well known is the Syracusan nymph Arethusa, whose head in a variety of versions was featured on Syracusan coins for over a century (nos. 15, 17, 18, 19) and provided the model for the nymphs of cities all over the Greek world (nos. 7, 28, 29, 38). Other cities that depicted their nymphs on their coins include Terina (no. 7), Himera (no. 11), Larissa (nos. 28, 29), and Kyrene (no. 39). The coins of Gela depict their eponymous river god Gelas as a swimming human-headed bull (no. 10).

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