Tetradrachm: Quadriga (obverse); Head of Arethousa (reverse) (c. 430–420 BCE): Art, History and Details

Tetradrachm: Quadriga (obverse); Head of Arethousa (reverse) (c. 430–420 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The rightmost horse of a chariot team dominates the obverse of this coin, while the other three are suggested only by contours. On the reverse, four dolphins should surround Arethousa, but poor positioning during the striking process has left off one and most of another. The lumps around the horses’ front legs suggest a die defect.

Object facts

• Title: Tetradrachm: Quadriga (obverse); Head of Arethousa (reverse)
• Date: c. 430–420 BCE
• Culture: Greek, minted at Syracuse (Sicily)
• Type: Coins
• Technique: silver
• Dimensions: Diameter: 2.4 cm (15/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1916.980

A detail from the museum

Arethousa’s banded hairstyle provides remarkable contemporaneous evidence of ancient Greek women’s fashions.

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.