AMPHAXITIS Macedonia 196BC Hercules & Club RARE Ancient Greek Coin i30661

Item: i30661

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek city of Amphaxitis in Macedon
Bronze 21mm (6.51 grams) Struck 196-168 B.C.
Reference: Sear 1376; B.M.C. 5.1,2; AMNG III 73; SNG Copenhagen 36 var.
(monograms)
Head of young Hercules right, in lion’s skin.
ΑΜΦΑ / ΞΙΩΝ abow and below club right, within
oak-wreath; monogram beneath.

‘Autonomous issue in the time of
the Macedonian kings Philip V and Perseus.

Amphaxitis (Ancient
Greek: Ἀμφαξίτις) was called
the western maritime part of the
Mygdonia
district of
ancient Macedonia
, on
Axius river
.

 You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity. 

Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek
divine

hero Heracles
, who was the son of

Zeus (Roman equivalent
Jupiter
) and the mortal
Alcmene
. In
classical mythology
, Hercules is famous for his
strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.

The Romans adapted the Greek hero’s iconography and myths for their
literature and art under the name Hercules. In later
Western art
and literature and in
popular culture
, Hercules is more
commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a
multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later
artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him. This article
provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the
later tradition
.

Labours

Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches
of the
Greco-Roman world
. One cycle of these
adventures became
canonical
as the “Twelve Labours,” but the list
has variations. One traditional order of the labours is found in the
Bibliotheca
as follows:

1. Slay the
   Nemean Lion
   .
2. Slay the nine-headed
   Lernaean Hydra
   .
3. Capture the
   Golden Hind of Artemis
   .
4. Capture the
   Erymanthian Boar
   .
5. Clean the Augean
   stables in a single day.
6. Slay the
   Stymphalian Birds
   .
7. Capture the
   Cretan Bull
   .
8. Steal the
   Mares of Diomedes
   .
9. Obtain the girdle of
   Hippolyta
   , Queen of the
   Amazons
   .
10. Obtain the cattle of the monster
    Geryon
    .
11. Steal the apples of the
    Hesperides
    .
12. Capture and bring back
    Cerberus
    .

The Latin
name Hercules was borrowed
through
Etruscan
, where it is represented variously
as Heracle
, Hercle, and other forms. Hercules
was a favorite subject for
Etruscan art
, and appears often on
bronze mirrors
. The Etruscan form Herceler derives from the Greek
Heracles via
syncope
. A mild oath invoking Hercules (Hercule!
or Mehercle!) was a common
interjection
in
Classical Latin
.

Hercules had a number of
myths
that were distinctly Roman. One of
these is Hercules’ defeat of
Cacus
, who was terrorizing the countryside
of Rome. The hero was associated with the
Aventine Hill
through his son
Aventinus
.
Mark Antony
considered him a personal
patron god, as did the emperor
Commodus
. Hercules received various forms
of
religious veneration
, including as a
deity concerned with children and childbirth
,
in part because of myths about his precocious infancy, and in part because
he fathered countless children. Roman brides wore a special belt tied with
the “knot
of Hercules“, which was supposed to be hard to untie.^[4]
The comic playwright
Plautus
presents the myth of Hercules’
conception as a sex comedy in his play
Amphitryon
;
Seneca
wrote the tragedy Hercules Furens
about his bout with madness. During the
Roman Imperial era
, Hercules was worshipped
locally from
Hispania
through
Gaul
.

Medieval mythography

After the Roman Empire became
Christianized
, mythological narratives were
often reinterpreted as
allegory
, influenced by the philosophy of
late antiquity
. In the 4th century,
Servius
had described Hercules’ return from the
underworld as representing his ability to overcome earthly desires and vices, or
the earth itself as a consumer of bodies.
In medieval mythography, Hercules was one of the heroes seen as a strong role
model who demonstrated both valor and wisdom, with the monsters he battles as
moral obstacles. One
glossator
noted that when
Hercules became a constellation
, he showed that
strength was necessary to gain entrance to Heaven.

Medieval mythography was written almost entirely in Latin, and original Greek
texts were little used as sources for Hercules’ myths.

Renaissance
mythography

The Renaissance
and the invention of the
printing press
brought a renewed interest in
and publication of Greek literature. Renaissance mythography drew more
extensively on the Greek tradition of Heracles, typically under the Romanized
name Hercules, or the alternate name
Alcides
. In a chapter of his book
Mythologiae (1567), the influential mythographer
Natale Conti
collected and summarized an
extensive range of myths concerning the birth, adventures, and death of the hero
under his Roman name Hercules. Conti begins his lengthy chapter on Hercules with
an overview description that continues the moralizing impulse of the Middle
Ages:

Hercules, who subdued and destroyed monsters, bandits, and criminals, was
justly famous and renowned for his great courage. His great and glorious
reputation was worldwide, and so firmly entrenched that he’ll always be
remembered. In fact the ancients honored him with his own temples, altars,
ceremonies, and priests. But it was his wisdom and great soul that earned
those honors; noble blood, physical strength, and political power just
aren’t good enough.