Tetradrachm: Head of Apollo (obverse); Lion (reverse) (c. 334–323 BCE): Art, History and Details

Tetradrachm: Head of Apollo (obverse); Lion (reverse) (c. 334–323 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The lion, king of the beasts and an animal associated with regal and heroic power, featured prominently on the coinage of many ancient Greek city-states. Artists placed the lion in a variety of poses, sometimes including the whole body, at other times the foreparts or just the head. Although it may once have roamed nearby, for many Greeks the lion was a monster nearly as exotic as the Chimaera, of which it formed a part, together with a goat head and snake-headed tail.

Object facts

• Title: Tetradrachm: Head of Apollo (obverse); Lion (reverse)
• Date: c. 334–323 BCE
• Culture: Greek, minted at Miletos (Ionia)
• Type: Coins
• Technique: silver
• Dimensions: Diameter: 2.4 cm (15/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1916.993

A detail from the museum

The lion and star on the reverse connect to the sun god, Apollo, on the obverse.

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.