Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
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
111426
label
Drachm: Forepart of Lion (obverse); Head of Aphrodite (reverse)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
111426
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
Q80003563
genreSpecific
Coins
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diameter: 1.7 cm (11/16 in.)
cul
Greek, minted at Knidos (Karia)
accession
1929.914
Source extras
tec
silver
tombstone
Drachm: Forepart of Lion (obverse); Head of Aphrodite (reverse), 465–449 BCE. Greek, minted at Knidos (Karia). Silver; diameter: 1.7 cm (11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1929.914
collection
GR - Greek
didYouKnow
Although produced in the Classical period, this profile head of Aphrodite retains an Archaic look.
citations
citation
Cahn, Herbert A. <em>Knidos: die Münzen des sechsten und des fünften Jahrhunderts v. Chr. </em>Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1970.
page_number
No. 72, pp. 45-6, & 226, Tafel 16
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:53:55.098000
sourceId
111426
dept
Greek and Roman Art
coll
GR - Greek
med
silver
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
82fb8511b9fd8e11