Obverse: Aegis, with Gorgon’s head at centre.

Reverse: Nike advancing right, carrying palm-branch; KOMA-NON across field; monograms to left and right.

B.M.C: 13. 28, 1. Sear: 3657. [Komana, circa 100 BC].

Diameter: 21 mm. Weight: 6.6 g.

A wonderful Hellenistic coin with a fascinating depiction of the aegis of Athena. The aegis was a protective shield or breastplate worn by Athena in battle. Virgil imagines its creation by the Cyclopes in Hephaestus’ forge, who:

“ Busily burnished the aegis Athena wears in her angry moods, a fearsome thing with a surface of gold like scaly snake-skin, and the linked serpents and the Gorgon herself upon the goddess’s breast, a severed head rolling it’s eyes.”

A fantastically detailed ancient coin with barely any wear.