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Greek city of Pellene in Achaia
Bronze Tetrachalkon 14mm (3.76 grams) Struck circa 325-300 B.C.
Reference: BCD Peloponnesos 598; HGC 5, 125; SNG Copenhagen 218
Laureate head of Apollo left.
Ram’s head above ΠE; all within wreath.
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 In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo, is one of the most important and diverse of the Olympian deities. The ideal of the kouros (a beardless youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. Apollo was worshiped in both ancient Greek and Roman religion, as well as in the modern Greco-Roman Neopaganism.
As the patron of Delphi (Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an oracular god – the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing were associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague as well as one who had the ability to cure. Amongst the god’s custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. As the leader of the Muses (Apollon Musagetes) and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became a common attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans.
In Hellenistic times, especially during the third century BCE, as Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks with Helios, god of the sun, and his sister Artemis similarly equated with Selene, goddess of the moon. In Latin texts, on the other hand, Joseph Fontenrose declared himself unable to find any conflation of Apollo with Sol among the Augustan poets of the first century, not even in the conjurations of Aeneas and Latinus in Aeneid XII (161-215). Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the third century CE.
Pellene was the easternmost city-state (polis) of ancient Greek Achaea. The ruins are southwest of Xylokastro on the northern coast of the Peloponnese. In ancient times the city had a famous temple of Artemis.
Pellene sided with Sparta throughout the Peloponnesian War. It was a member of the first Achaean League until that League was dissolved by Alexander the Great. In the 4th century BC it was ruled for some time by a tyrant, but around 270/265 BC it was again a democracy joining the revived Achaean League. In 241 BC Pellene was briefly conquered by the Aetolian League, but the raiding party was expelled by Aratus of Sicyon in the Battle of Pellene. In 225 BC it was captured by Cleomenes III of Sparta, but after the successful intervention of Macedon it was returned to Achaea the following year. Pellene remained a member of the Achaean League until the Roman conquest in 146 BC.
Notable people
- Phanas of Pellene (6th century BC), runner (Olympic victor 512 BC)
- Sostratus of Pellene (5th century BC), runner (Olympic victor 460 BC)
- Promachus of Pellene (5th century BC), pakratiast (Olympic victor 404 BC)
- Chaeron of Pellene (4th century BC), wrestler and tyrant (Olympic victor between 356 and 344 BC)
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