Histiaia in Euboia 338BC Nymph & Cow Genuine Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i49486

Item: i49486

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek city of
Histiaia
in
Euboia

Bronze 12mm (1.38 grams) Struck circa 338-304 B.C.
Reference: HGC 4, 1538; Sear 2502 var.; Babelon II, no. 198; BCD Euobia 513-525
Head of nymph Histiaia right, wreathed with grape vine, hair rolled.
IΣTI, Cow’s head and neck three-quarter face to right; grape vine behind.

Situated in the far north of the island, Histiaia did not begin producing
coinage until the mid-4th
Century B.C. From its extensive silver issues in the
Hellenistic age it would appear to be
a place of considerable commercial
importance.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.  

Istiaia (Ιστιαία) is a municipality in
Euboea
,
Greece
, and the former capital of the
prefecture of Evia
. Its population is 7,353 (2001). The town
is located in the northern end of the island.

Istiaia is mentioned in the
Iliad
by the ancient Greek poet,
Homer
for its rich
vineyards
.

In this 1896 painting by John William Waterhouse , Hylas is abducted by the Naiads , i.e. fresh water nymphs  Echo, an Oread (mountain nymph) watches Narcissus in this 1903 painting by John William Waterhouse .

A nymph (Greek:
νύμφη, nymphē) in
Greek mythology
and in
Latin mythology
is a minor female nature deity
typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from
goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature,
and are usually depicted as beautiful, young
nubile
maidens who love to dance and sing;
their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and
daughters of the Greek
polis
. They are believed to dwell in
mountains and
groves
, by springs and rivers, and also in
trees and in valleys and cool
grottoes
. Although they would never die of old
age nor illness, and could give birth to fully immortal children if mated to a
god, they themselves were not necessarily immortal, and could be beholden to
death in various forms.
Charybdis
and
Scylla
were once nymphs.

Other nymphs, always in the shape of young maidens, were part of the
retinue
of a god, such as
Dionysus
,
Hermes
, or
Pan
, or a goddess, generally the huntress
Artemis
. Nymphs were the frequent target of
satyrs
.

Etymology

Nymphs are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of
nature, most often identified with the life-giving outflow of springs: as
Walter Burkert
(Burkert 1985:III.3.3) remarks,
“The idea that rivers are gods and springs divine nymphs is deeply rooted not
only in poetry but in belief and ritual; the worship of these deities is limited
only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality.”

The
Greek
word
νύμφη has “bride” and “veiled” among its meanings: hence a marriageable
young woman. Other readers refer the word (and also
Latin
nubere and
German
Knospe) to a root expressing the
idea of “swelling” (according to
Hesychius
, one of the meanings of
νύμφη is “rose-bud”).

Adaptations

The Greek nymphs were spirits invariably bound to places, not unlike the
Latin genius loci
, and the difficulty of
transferring their cult may be seen in the complicated myth that brought
Arethusa
to Sicily. In the works of the
Greek-educated
Latin poets
, the nymphs gradually absorbed into
their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams (Juturna,
Egeria
,
Carmentis
,
Fontus
), while the
Lymphae
(originally Lumpae), Italian
water-goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of their names, could be
identified with the Greek Nymphae. The mythologies of classicizing Roman poets
were unlikely to have affected the rites and cult of individual nymphs venerated
by country people in the springs and clefts of
Latium
. Among the
Roman
literate class, their sphere of influence
was restricted, and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery
element. Nymphs are also portrayed as selfish and as attention seekers who walk
around naked in the middle of forests.