Silver Drachm of Cnidus (Knidos), Caria, Turkey, 6.15 g.
Title
Silver Drachm of Cnidus (Knidos), Caria, Turkey, 6.15 g.
Creator
Cnidus (Knidos), Caria, Turkey
Date
c. 520-490 BCE
Description
Obverse: Forepart of lion facing right.
Reverse: In incuse square, head of Aphrodite facing right.
Style/Period: Greek (ancient)
Knidos was a Greek colony in southwestern Asia Minor, situated partly on the mainland and partly on an island connected to it with two moles. Its harbor and location made it an important port. Knidos was part of a federation of six neighboring cities (including Lindos, Kamiros and Ialysos on Rhodes, and Kos and Halikarnassos) called the Dorian Hexapolis. The coinage of Knidos begins in the late sixth century BCE and consists mostly of drachms.
The images on Knidian coins refer to the city's major cults. On the obverse is the forepart of a lion, attribute of Apollo. In Knidos he was worshipped as the sun god Triopian Apollo; every four years the federation met in his sanctuary for the Dorian Games in his honor. The other major cult at Knidos was that of Aphrodite Euploia, the aspect of the goddess which protected ships and seafaring. The head of Aphrodite appears on the reverse. The style of the reverse, with its old-fashioned incuse square and Aphrodite's frontal eye and bead-like hair, are evidence of a date in the Archaic period of Greek art.
-- Rebecca H. Luhmann Levine, LU '93
Bibliography: H.A. Cahn, Knidos: die Münzen des sechsten und des fünften Jahrhunderts v. Chr. (Berlin 1970) pl. 3, no. 46
The images on Knidian coins refer to the city's major cults. On the obverse is the forepart of a lion, attribute of Apollo. In Knidos he was worshipped as the sun god Triopian Apollo; every four years the federation met in his sanctuary for the Dorian Games in his honor. The other major cult at Knidos was that of Aphrodite Euploia, the aspect of the goddess which protected ships and seafaring. The head of Aphrodite appears on the reverse. The style of the reverse, with its old-fashioned incuse square and Aphrodite's frontal eye and bead-like hair, are evidence of a date in the Archaic period of Greek art.
-- Rebecca H. Luhmann Levine, LU '93
Bibliography: H.A. Cahn, Knidos: die Münzen des sechsten und des fünften Jahrhunderts v. Chr. (Berlin 1970) pl. 3, no. 46
Source
Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Ex Massachusetts Historical Society collection; Stack's, 1971.
Identifier
91.084
Rights
Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890
Subject
Greek, lion, Aphrodite, Cnidus, Knidos, Caria, Turkey
Files
Citation
Cnidus (Knidos), Caria, Turkey, “Silver Drachm of Cnidus (Knidos), Caria, Turkey, 6.15 g.,” Lawrence University Classics Department & Ottilia Buerger Coin Collections, accessed November 5, 2026, https://thor.lawrence.edu/omeka/buerger/items/show/207.