Tetradrachm (Coin) Depicting the God Zeus

-359·Silver·Diam.: 2.6 cm (1 1/16 in.)

The official record of quadrennial games honoring the supreme Greek god Zeus at a sanctuary dedicated to him at Olympia began in 776 BCE. With few interruptions, they took place every four years for about 1,100 years. In 394, CE the Christian emperor Theodosius I (reigned 379–95) abolished them as pagan rites. The most prestigious competition remained the footrace, but eventually it was supplanted in popularity by the horse races. Horses were symbols of socioeconomic status, since only the privileged could afford to buy, feed, and train them and transport their teams and trainers to Olympia every four years. In time, many of the victors in the horse races included kings and tyrants. Philip II, king of Macedon, who minted this coin, owned the horse that won the race in Olympia in 356 BCE. The same year his son was born; he would grow up to become Alexander the Great (356–332 BCE). The head of Zeus on the front referred to Philip's claim that his family descended from the god. On the back Philip commemorated his victory in the horse races of the Olympic Games with an image of a jockey astride his mount.

Catalogue

Year: -359
Medium: Silver
Dimensions: Diam.: 2.6 cm (1 1/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Ancient Greek

Artist

Ancient Greek

Sculpture

Ancient Greek art spans a period between about 900 and 30 BCE and is divided into four periods: Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic. Throughout that period, artists worked with a wide variety of materials including bronze and stone for sculpture; terracotta for vases and figurines; various pigments for painting; and gold, silver, and bronze for coinage. In the Geometric period, not only were geometric patterns dominant but so too were abstract figures, especially horses , military, and funerary scenes. A lack of inscriptions can make the interpretation of this iconography difficult. Beginning in the 7th century BCE, the Archaic period ushered in an increasingly naturalistic style, especially in depictions of the human form. Influences from Egypt and the Near East can be seen in the appearance of motifs such as the palmette and lotus, along with composite creatures like griffins (bird/lion), sphinxes (human/winged lion), and sirens (bird/woman). Terracotta vases, especially those made in the second half of the sixth century BCE, depict aspects of daily life , funerary rites , warfare , and mythology . Experimentation with new techniques, such as black-figure and red-figure decoration, allowed for a wider range of figures and scenes to be depicted in greater detail. The Classical period, often defined by the Greek defeat of the Persians in 479 BCE, ushered in what is now known as the Golden Age of Greece. The city of Athens dominated the flourishing artistic scene, and the building of the Parthenon (the temple erected between 447 and 432 BCE on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece) paved the way for unprecedented achievements in architecture and sculpture. The final transition to the Hellenistic period, which lasted from about 323 through 30 BCE, occurred following the death of Alexander the Great, who famously spread Greek culture into the lands of his far-reaching conquest. Gods and heroes, who were previously depicted in two-dimensional scenes on vases or rel

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