Hemidrachm (Coin) Depicting the God Zeus Amarios (280-146 BCE): Artwork and History

Hemidrachm (Coin) Depicting the God Zeus Amarios (280-146 BCE) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Greek.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

The front (obverse) of this coin depicts the head of Zeus Amarios, facing to the right. On the back (reverse) is a monogram symbol of the Achaean League within a laurel wreath. Zeus Amarios, along with Demeter Panachaia, were the protecting deities of the Achaean League, which was first formed in the fifth century BCE as a confederation of Greek city-states in the Peloponnese of Greece. Temples to both deities were situated side by side at Aegium, in the northwestern Peloponnese, where the main assemly of the League held its meeting. A second Achaean League was established in 280 BCE but was later conquered and dissolved by the Romans in 146 BCE.

Object facts

• Title: Hemidrachm (Coin) Depicting the God Zeus Amarios
• Date: 280-146 BCE
• Artist attribution: Greek
• Place of origin: Achaea department
• Medium: Silver
• Dimensions: Diam.: 1.6 cm (11/16 in.)
• Type: Coin
• Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
• Reference number: 1923.1123

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. William Nelson Pelouze

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.