Ancient Greek Coin - Medusa and Nike 1st Century AD

A Gorgon is a creature of Greek myth, one of three sisters with beautiful faces, hair made of venomous snakes, and a gaze that turned beholders to stone. The two immortal sisters, Stheno and Euryale, are not as famous as the mortal one, Medusa, who was slain by the hero Perseus. 

The gruesome image was thought to confer protection, and was seen all over ancient Greece, including on this bronze artifact from the Black Sea region that dates from the first century BCE.

The obverse shows Medusa; on the reverse, Nike, the goddess of victory, carries a palm branch.

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