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Source Description
The lion, king of the beasts and an animal associated with regal and heroic power, featured prominently on the coinage of many ancient Greek city-states. Artists placed the lion in a variety of poses, sometimes including the whole body, at other times the foreparts or just the head. Although it may once have roamed nearby, for many Greeks the lion was a monster nearly as exotic as the Chimaera, of which it formed a part, together with a goat head and snake-headed tail.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
98351
label
Drachm: Forepart of Lion (obverse); Head of Aphrodite (reverse)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
98351
contentType
object
title
Drachm: Forepart of Lion (obverse); Head of Aphrodite (reverse)
description
The lion, king of the beasts and an animal associated with regal and heroic power, featured prominently on the coinage of many ancient Greek city-states. Artists placed the lion in a variety of poses, sometimes including the whole body, at other times the foreparts or just the head. Although it may once have roamed nearby, for many Greeks the lion was a monster nearly as exotic as the Chimaera, of which it formed a part, together with a goat head and snake-headed tail.
date
465–449 BCE
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79483898
genreSpecific
Coins
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diameter: 1.6 cm (5/8 in.)
cul
Greek, minted at Knidos (Karia)
accession
1917.994
Source extras
tec
silver
tombstone
Drachm: Forepart of Lion (obverse); Head of Aphrodite (reverse), 465–449 BCE. Greek, minted at Knidos (Karia). Silver; diameter: 1.6 cm (5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust, 1917.994
collection
GR - Greek
didYouKnow
The forepart of a lion on Knidian coins is thought to represent Apollo.
citations
citation
"Accessions." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 4, no. 4 (1917): 64-67.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 64
citation
Cahn, Herbert A.<em> Knidos: die Münzen des sechsten und des fünften Jahrhunderts v. Chr</em>. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1970.
page_number
p. 48, No. 77, Tafel 17
creditline
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:18:33.890000
sourceId
98351
dept
Greek and Roman Art
coll
GR - Greek
med
silver
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
1d4405deb16c222c