Drachm: Female Head (obverse); Eagle (reverse) (337–308 BCE): Art, History and Details

Drachm: Female Head (obverse); Eagle (reverse) (337–308 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Minted after a period of Athenian domination, this coin from Chalkis features two traditional symbols of its home island Euboia: a female head and an eagle battling a snake. What distinguishes this issue from earlier types, however, are the smooth, rounded face and deep-set eyes of the woman on the obverse, who may represent the goddess Euboia herself.

Object facts

• Title: Drachm: Female Head (obverse); Eagle (reverse)
• Date: 337–308 BCE
• Culture: Greek, minted at Chalkis (Euboia)
• Type: Coins
• Technique: silver
• Dimensions: Diameter: 1.7 cm (11/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1916.972

A detail from the museum

On the reverse is Chalkis’s 3-letter abbreviation ΧΑΛ (CHAL).

Collection credit

Gift of J. H. Wade

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.