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Greek city of
Sestos
in
Thrace
Bronze 17mm (5.22 grams) Struck circa 300 B.C.
Reference: SNG Copenhagen 930; BMC 4-5
Head of Persephone right, wearing barley wreath.
Hermes standing left, holding caduceus; amphora to left;
ΣH in field to right.
In the Thracian Chersonese, on
the shores of the Hellespont at the point where Xerxes and his army crossed to
Europe in 480 B.C.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
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In
Greek mythology
,
Persephone is the
daughter of Zeus
and the harvest-goddess
Demeter
, and queen of the
underworld
; she was abducted by
Hades
, the god-king of the underworld.
The myth of her abduction represents her function as the
personification
of
vegetation
which shoots forth in
spring
and withdraws into the earth after
harvest; hence she is also associated with spring and with the seeds of the
fruits of the fields. Persephone as a
vegetation goddess
(Kore) and her mother
Demeter
were the central figures of the
Eleusinian mysteries
that predated the
Olympian pantheon
. In the
Linear B
(Mycenean
Greek
) tablets dated 1400-1200 BC found at
Pylos
, the “two mistresses and the king” are
mentioned;
John Chadwick
identifies these as
Demeter
, Persephone and
Poseidon
.
In
Classical Greek art
, Persephone is invariably
portrayed robed; often carrying a
sheaf
of grain. In
Roman mythology
, she is called
Proserpina
Hermes
is the great messenger of the gods in
Greek mythology
and additionally as a
guide to the Underworld
. Hermes was born on
Mount Cyllene
in Arcadia. An
Olympian god
, he is also the patron of
boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of
shepherds
and
cowherds
, of the cunning of thieves and liars,
of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics and sports, of weights
and measures, of invention, and of commerce in general. His symbols include the
tortoise, the rooster, the winged sandals, the winged hat, and the
caduceus
(given to him by Apollo in exchange
for the lyre).
Symbols of Hermes were the palm tree, turtle, rooster, goat, the number four,
several kinds of fish, incense. Sacrifices involved honey, cakes, pigs, goats,
and lambs.
In the Roman adaptation of the Greek religion (see
interpretatio romana
), Hermes was
identified with the Roman god
Mercury
, who, though inherited from the
Etruscans
, developed many similar
characteristics, such as being the patron of commerce.
The
Homeric hymn
to Hermes invokes him as the one
“of many shifts (polytropos), blandly cunning, a robber, a cattle driver,
a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the gates, one who was soon
to show forth wonderful deeds among the deathless gods.”
He protects and takes care of all the travelers, miscreants, harlots, old
crones
and thieves that pray to him or cross
his path. He is athletic and is always looking out for runners, or any athletes
with injuries who need his help.
Hermes is a messenger from the gods to humans, sharing this role with
hermeneus. Hermes gives us our word “Iris
hermeneutics“,
the study and theory of interpretation. In Greek a lucky find was a hermaion.
Hermes delivered messages from Olympus to the mortal world. He wears shoes with
wings on them and uses them to fly freely between the mortal and immortal world.
Hermes was the second youngest of the
Olympian gods
, being born before
Dionysus
.
Hermes, as an inventor of fire, is a parallel of the
Titan
,
Prometheus
. In addition to the
lyre, Hermes was believed to have invented many types of racing and
the sports of wrestling and boxing, and therefore was a patron of athletes.
According to prominent
folklorist
Yeleazar Meletinsky
, Hermes is a deified
trickster
. Hermes also served as a
psychopomp
, or an escort for the dead to help
them find their way to the
afterlife
(the
Underworld
in the Greek myths). In many Greek
myths, Hermes was depicted as the only god besides
Hades
,
Persephone
,
Hecate
, and
Thanatos
who could enter and leave the
Underworld without hindrance..
Hermes often helped travelers have a safe and easy journey. Many Greeks would
sacrifice to Hermes before any trip.
In the fully-developed Olympian pantheon, Hermes was the son of
Zeus
Pleiade
Maia
, a daughter of the Titan
Atlas
. Hermes’ symbols were the
cock
and the
tortoise
, and he can be recognized by his purse
or pouch, winged sandals
,
winged cap
, and the herald’s staff, the
kerykeion
. The night he was born he slipped
away from Maia and stole his elder brother
Apollo
An amphora (plural:
amphorae or amphoras) is a type of
vase-shaped, usually
ceramic
(specimens in materials such as metal
occur occasionally) container with two handles and a long neck narrower than
the
body. The word amphora is
Latin
, derived from the
Greek
amphoreus (αμφορεύς),
an abbreviation of amphiphoreus, a compound word combining amphi-
(“on both sides”, “twain”) plus phoreus (“carrier”), from pherein
(“to carry”), referring to the vessel’s two carrying handles on opposite sides.
Further, the term also stands for an ancient
Roman unit of measurement
for liquids. The
volume of a Roman amphora was one cubic
foot
, ca. 26,026
L
.
Amphorae were used in vast numbers to transport and store various products,
both liquid and dry, in the ancient
Mediterranean
world and later the
Roman Empire
, and in some periods the shape was
also used for luxury pottery, which might be elaborately painted. Stoppers of
perishable materials which have rarely survived were used to seal the contents.
Two principal types of amphorae existed: the neck amphora, in which the
neck and body meet at a sharp angle; and the one-piece amphora, in which
the neck and body form a continuous curve. Neck amphorae were commonly used in
the early history of ancient Greece but were gradually replaced by the one-piece
type from around the 7th century BCE onwards. Most were produced with a pointed
base to allow upright storage by being partly embedded in sand or soft ground.
This also facilitated transport by ship, where the amphorae were tightly packed
together, with ropes passed through their handles to prevent breaking or
toppling during rough seas. In kitchens and shops amphorae could be stored in
racks with round holes in them.
Amphorae varied greatly in height. The largest could stand as much as 1.5
metres (5 ft) high, while some were under 30 centimetres (12 in) high – the
smallest were called amphoriskoi (literally “little amphorae”). Most were around
45 centimetres (18 in) high. There was a significant degree of standardisation
in some variants; the wine amphora held a standard measure of about 39 litres
(41 US qt), giving rise to the amphora quadrantal as a unit of measure in the
Roman Empire. In all, around 66 distinct types of amphora have been identified.
Sestosss or Sestus was an
ancient Greek
town of the
Thracian Chersonese
, the modern
Gallipoli
peninsula in European
Turkey
. Situated on the
Hellespont
opposite
Abydos
, it was the home of Hero in the legend
of
Hero and Leander
, where according to legend she
lived in a tower overlooking the sea. Sestos was an
Aeolian
colony, as it was founded by settlers
from Lesbos
. The ruins of the town are near to the
modern settlement of
Eceabat
.
Sestos and the
Hellespont
In 480 BC, Xerxes”
army crossed at this point on two
temporary
pontoon bridges
later known as
Xerxes’ Pontoon Bridges
, and most of
Alexander the Great
‘s forces went the other way
here by boat in 334 BC.
In 1810 Lord Byron
swam from Sestos to Abydos in four
hours, recreating Leander’s feat, and wrote a poem thereafter. This event is
commemorated every year with an annual swim event that recreates the crossing.
Little now remains of the ancient town of Sestos.
Marble decree from Sestos in the
British Museum
Hero and Leander
Sestos is central to
Christopher Marlowe
‘s poem
Hero and Leander
, and is referred to in its
opening lines:
On Hellespont, guilty of true love’s blood,
In view and opposite two cities stood,
Sea-borderers, disjoin’d by Neptune’s might:
The one Abydos, the other Sestos hight.
At Sestos Hero dwelt; Hero the fair,
Whom young Apollo courted for her hair.
(hight means ‘was called’)
The Siege of Sestos
Main article:
Greco-Persian Wars
In 479BC-478BC, after the Greek victories (against Persia) at
Plataea
and
Mycale
, Greek forces under the command of
Xanthippus
besieged the Persian forces. The
Athenians attacked the Persian forces, and defeated the Persians. Since the
Persians were defeated, the Persian garrison at Sestos allowed the Greeks to
conquer the city. As a result, Persian influence along the
Hellespont
was significantly reduced. This
served the dual goal of denying Persian land forces access to the Greek
mainland, while restoring Athenian trade to
Black Sea
ports such as
Byzantium
.
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