Stater: Head of Athena (obverse); Nike (reverse) (c. 325–275 BCE): Art, History and Details

Stater: Head of Athena (obverse); Nike (reverse) (c. 325–275 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

As the forces of Alexander III [the Great] advanced into Asia, the city-state of Salamis, on the island of Cyprus, voluntarily surrendered itself and its mint. Salamis began producing Macedonian-style coinage, adopting a helmeted Athena on the obverse and a winged Nike offering a laurel wreath on the reverse. The rudder in the left field is the distinguishing symbol of Salamis, a nod to the city’s longstanding maritime prominence.

Object facts

• Title: Stater: Head of Athena (obverse); Nike (reverse)
• Date: c. 325–275 BCE
• Culture: Greek, Macedonian, minted at Salamis (Cyprus)
• Type: Coins
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Diameter: 1.9 cm (3/4 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1916.979

A detail from the museum

Athena appears off-center on this coin’s obverse due to an error in the minting process.

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.