Parthenope’s Embodiment of Victory and the Crowning of Acheloios as ‘Victor over Death’: A Reconsideration of the Reverse Motif Exhibited on Neapolitan Coinage
Abstract
The nymphs are truly marvelous figures of antiquity, and utterly pervasive, too. In Larson’s work, she records the name of some 426 of them, many of which (like meliai, ash tree nymphs) denote a group of such figures. Numbers like these give us a clear quantitative indication of just how essential the nymphs are to Greek culture. They operate in a liminal function mediating between the human and divine; they are therapeutic, and communion with the nymphs was often sought after in antiquity; their femininity is alluring and yet they are wildly unpredictable; they are always fixed to a specific water source from which their powers derive; and, they tend to exist in many multiples, often maintaining a general anonymity. Perhaps most importantly of all, they function as auxiliaries in the process of metempsychosis and often accompany psychopomps in ancient art. It is primarily for these reasons, and because Acheloios is often referred to as their father, that, within the pages of POΤΑΜΙKOΝ, Dr. Sisci and I advocated a somewhat controversial —or at least seemingly counterintuitive—claim, namely, that the winged figure crowning Acheloios Sebethos on the coinage of Neapolis was not Nike, but rather a chthonic nymph. Here we loosely followed the works of Kurt Regling, Ettore Gabrici, Maria Caccamo Caltabiano, and Grazia Salamone, all of whom questioned the seemingly unequivocal identification of winged female figures on coinage from Magna Graecia and Sicily with Nike, and in doing so advocated for some form of polysemy, or the idea that multiple meanings are conjoined in the iconography and this type of syncretism would have been apparent to the ancient observer. Dr. Sisci and I went so far as to relabel many of these ‘Nike’ figures as winged, chthonic nymphs, doing away with the Nike dimension entirely, since an Acheloios-nymph pairing made more sense within the Acheloian cultic context.
References
Alduri, V. 2014. Plato’s Saving Mūthos: The Language of Salvation in the Republic. The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition. 3-33.
Bellinger, A.R., and M.A. Berlincourt. 1962. Victory as a Coin Type. Numismatic Notes and Monographs no. 149. New York: American Numismatic Society.
Bernabé, Alberto. 2018. The Commentary of the Derveni Papyrus: Pre-Socratic Cosmogonies at Work. In Marco Antonio Santamaría Álvarez (ed.), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries. Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava, Volume 36. Leiden: Brill. 108-125.
Bianca Fàbry, N., and D.Vitali. 2015. Il Principe Celtico di Lavau. Dentro lo scavo. Archeologia Viva, No.171. Firenze: Giunti.
Caltabiano, Maria Caccamo. 2011. La moneta dei Brettii e l’identita di Nika. In Giovanna De Sensi Sestito and Stefania Mancuso (eds.), Enotri e Brettii in Magna Grecia : modi e forme di interazione culturale. Rubettino: Soveria Mannelli--Viale Rosario Rubettin. 445-476.
Cole, Susan G. 1988. The Uses of Water in Greek Sanctuaries. In Robin Hägg et al (eds.) Early Greek Cult Practice: Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens. Götenburg: Aström.
D’Alessio, G.B. 2004. Textual Fluctuations and Cosmic Streams: Ocean and Acheloios. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol 124: 16-37.
De Cesare, Monica. 2012. Le ‘Nymphai’ e l’acqua in Sicilia: l’imagerie vascolare. In Anna Caldrone (ed.) Cultura e religione delle acquae: atti del convegno interdisciplinare ‘Qui fresca l’acqua mormora…,’ Messina, 29-30 marzo 2011. Archaeologica 167. Rome: Bretschneider. 141-168.
Edmonds, Radcliffe G., III. 2013. Redefining Ancient Orphism: A Study in Greek Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Finkelberg, Aryeh. 2017. Heraclitus and Thales’ Conceptual Scheme: A Historical Study. Leiden: Brill.
Gàbrici, Ettore. 1959. Problemi di numismatica greca della Sicilia e Magna Grecia. Napoli: G. Macchiaroli.
Gaifman, Milette. 2008. Visualized Rituals and Dedicatory Inscriptions on Votive Offerings to the Nymphs. Opuscula 1. 85-103.
Goulaki-Voutira, Alexandra. 1992. Nike. In Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Volume VI. Zürich: Artemis & Winkler Verlag. 850-904 (plates on pages 557-606).
Huffman, C.A. 2009a. The Pythagorean Conception of the Soul from Pythagoras to Philolaus. In D. Frede and B. Reis (ed.), Body and Soul in Ancient Philosophy. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Huffman, C.A. 2009b. The Peripatetics on the Pythagoreans. In C.A> Huffman (ed.), A History of Pythagoreanism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Isler, Hans Peter. 1970. Acheloos: Eine Monographie. Bern: Francke Verlag.
Isler, Hans Peter. 1981. “Acheloos.” Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Vol. I.
Zürich: Artemis & Verlag. 12-36.
Koda, Harold. 2003. The Chiton, Peplos, and Himation in Modern Dress. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god3/hd_god3.htm (October 2003).
Larson, Jennifer. 2001. Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lillui, Giovanni. 2008. Sculture della Sardegna Nuragica. Nuoro: Ilisso.
Lucani, M.A. Commenta Bernensia. Edited by H. Usener. Lipsiae: Teubner, 1869.
Molinari, Nicholas, and Nicola Sisci. 2016. ΠΟΤΑΜΙΚΟΝ: Sinews of Acheloios. A Comprehensive Catalog of the Bronze Coinage of the Man-Faced Bull, with Essays on Origin and Identity. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Molinari, Nicholas. 2018. Sophocles’ Trachiniae and the Apotheosis of Herakles: The Importance of Acheloios and Some Numismatic Confirmations. KOINON: The International Journal of Classical Numismatic Studies, Volume I, Inaugural Issue. Oxford. 1-28.
Molinari, Nicholas. 2020a. Αχελομορφωθ: Magistrates of Akarnania. A Reconsideration of the Iconographic Fluctuations on Akarnanian Federal Coinage. KOINON: The International Journal of Classical Numismatic Studies, Volume III.
Molinari, Nicholas J. 2020b. Concerning Water as the Archai: Acheloios, Thales and the Origin of Philosophy. A Dissertation Providing Philosophical, Mythological, and Archaeological Responses to the Neo-Marxians. Doctoral Dissertation. Newport, RI: Salve Regina University.
Molinari, Nicholas. 2022. Acheloios, Thales, and the Origin of Philosophy: A Response to the Neo-Marxians. Archaeology and Classical Humanities Series Volume 1. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Nagel, Alexander. 2021. A river ran through it: Circulating images of ritual and engaging communities in a cave in Aitoloakarnania. In Stella Katsarou and Alexander Nagel (eds.), Cave and Worship in Ancient Greece: New Approaches to Landscape and Ritual. London: Routledge. 115-143.
Napoli, Mario. 1997. Napoli-greco-romana. 2nd ed. Naples: Colonnese.
Peppard, Michael. 2016. The World’s Oldest Church: Bible, Art, and Ritual at Dura-Europos, Syria. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Picard, Olivier. 2012. Les nymphs, images de l’eau sur les monnaies des cites grecques. In Jacques Jouanna et al. (ed.), L’eau en Méditerranée de l’antiquité au moyen âge: actes du 22e colloque de la Villa Kérylos à Beaulieu-sur-Mer les 7 & 8 octobre 2011. Cahiers de la Villa Kérylos 23. Paris: Boccard. 55-73.
Pizzirani, Chiara. 2014. Il Mare Nell’Immaginario Funebre Degli Etruschi. In Giuseppe Sassatelli and Alfonsina Russo Tagliente (eds.) Il Viaggio Oltre La Vita: Gli Etruschi E L’Aldilà Tra Capolavori E Realtà Virtuale . Bologna: Bononia University Press. 71- 252.
Regling, Kurt. 1906. Terina. Berlin: Reimer.
Rouse, W.H.D. 1975. Greek Votive Offerings. New York: Arno.
Rutter, N.K. 1979. Campanian Coinages: 475-380 BC. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Rutter, N. K. (ed.). 2001. History Nummorum: Italy. 3rd edition. London: British Museum Press.
Salamone, Grazia. 2013. “Una” e “molteplice”: la ninfa eponima di città : iconografie monetali e semantica. Reggio Calabria: Falzea.
Sineux, Pierre. 2006. Asklépios, les nymphes et Achéloos: réflexion sur une association cultuelle. Kentron 22. 177-198.
Smith, William. 1873. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. London: John Murray.
Sommerstein, Alan. 1998. Aristophanes: Ecclesiazusae. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, Rabun. 2009. ‘River Raptures: Containment and Control of Water in Greek and Roman Constructions of Identity.’ In C. Kosso and A. Scott (eds.), The Nature and Function of Water, Baths, and Hygiene from Antiquity through the Renaissance. Leiden: Brill. 21-42.
Taylor, Rabun. 2014. ‘The Cult of Sirens and Greek Colonial Identity in Southern Italy.’ In Brita Alroth and Charlotte Scheffer (eds.), Attitudes Towards the Past in Antiquity: Creating Identities? Proceedings of an International Conference held at Stockholm University, 15-17 May 2009. Stockholm Studies in Classical Archaeology 14. Stockholm University. 183–89.
Taylor, Rabun. 2018. ‘Divine Chemistry: Nymphs, Sacrament, and Substance in the Greco-Roman World.’ In Courtney J.P. Friesen (ed.), Envisioning God in the Humanities: Essays on Christianity, Judaism, and Ancient Religion in Honor of Melissa Harl Sellew. Eugene, OR: Cascade. 284-312.
Taylor, Rabun. 2021. Ancient Naples: A Documentary History. Origins to c. 350 C.E. New York: Italica Press.
Trendall, A. D. 1989. Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily. New York: Thames and Hudson.
Van der Meer, Bouke. 2014. ‘The Etruscan Bronze Lamp of Cortona, its Cosmic Program and its Attached Inscription.’ Latomus 73. 289-302.
Ancient Sources:
Apollonius Paradoxographus. Mirabilia. In Rerum Naturalium Scriptores, I. Edited by O. Keller. Leipzig: B.G. Tuebner, 1877.
Aristophanes. Ecclesiazusae. Translated by Alan Sommerstein. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Aristotle. De Anima. Translated by Mark Shiffman. Newburyport, MA: Focus, 2011.
Columella. On Agriculture. Volume III: Books 10-12. On Trees. Trans. E.S. Forster and Edward Heffner. Loeb Classical Library 408. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955.
Diogenes Laertius. Vitae philosophorum. In Diogenis Laertii vitae philosophorum I. Libri I-X. Edited by Miroslav Marcovich. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
Eusebius. Praeparatio Evangelica. In La preparation évangélique. Edited by E. DesPlaces. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1974.
Hesychius (?). Scholia in Platonem: Res publica. In Scholia Platonica. Edited by W.C. Greene.
Haverford: Societas philologica Americana, 1938.
Hyginus. Fabulae. In Apollodorus’ Library and Hyginus’ Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology. Translated by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2007.
Iamblichus of Chalcis. De vita Pythagorica. Edited by M. Von Albrecht. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2002.
Ibycus. Greek Lyric, Volume III: Stesichorus, Ibycus, Simonides, and Others. Edited and translated by David A. Campbell. Loeb Classical Library 476. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991.
Lykophron. Alexandra. Edited by A.W. Mair. New York: Putnam, 1921.
Lykophron. Scholia: Isaakiou kai Iōannou tou Tzetzou Scholia eis Lykophrona. Lipsiae: Sumtibus F.C.G. Vogelii, 1811.
Ovid. Metamorphoses. Books 1-8. Translated by F.J. Miller and G.P. Goold. Ovid Volume III. Loeb Classical Library 42. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977.
Pausanias. Descriptions of Greece.5 Volumes. Translated by W.H.S. Jones Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959-61.
Pindar. Olympian Odes. Pythian Odes. Trans. W. Race. Pindar Volume I. Loeb Classical Library 56. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.
Plato. Euthyphro. Apology. Crito. Phaedo. Phaedrus. Translated by Harold Fowler. Plato Volume I. Loeb Classical Library 36. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982.
Plato. Republic. Volume I & II. Translated by Chris Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Plato Volume V and VI. Loeb Classical Library 237 and 276. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Pliny the Elder. The Natural History. Trans. John Bostock and H.T. Riley. London: Taylor and Francis, 1855.
Plutarch. Plutarch’s Lives. Trans. Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1918.
Plutarch. Moralia, Volume VIII: Table-Talk, Books 1-6. Translated by P. A. Clement, H. B. Hoffleit. Loeb Classical Library 424. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969.
Porphyry. Vita Pythagorae. In Porphyrii Opuscula. Edited by A. Nauck. Leipzig: B.G. Tuebner, 1886.
Porphyry. On the Cave of the Nymphs. Translated by Thomas Taylor. London: John M. Watkins, 1917.
Pseudo-Plutarch. Placita Philosophorum. In Plutarque. Oeuvres morales, XII, 2: Opinions des philosophes. Edited by G. Lachenaud. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2003.
Simonides. Fragments. In Greek Lyric: Steisichorus, Ibycus, Simonides, and Others. Translated by David Campbell. Loeb Classical Library 476. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991.
Stobaeus, Iohannes. Anthologium. In Ioannis Stobaei anthologium. 5 Volumes. Edited by C. Wachsmuth and O. Hense. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1884-1912.
Strabo. Geography. 8 Volumes. Translated by Horace L. Jones. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1917-1932.
Virgil. Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid: Books 1-6. Virgil Volume I. Translated by G.P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 63. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.
Xenophanes. Fragments. In Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. Volume I. Edited by H. Diels and W. Krantz. Eighth Edition. Berlin: Weidmann, 1956.
Auction Houses
Classical Numismatic Group, Lancaster, PA, and London, EN, https://cngcoins.com/.
Dmitry Markov Coins & Medals, New York, NY, https://www.russian-medals.net/
Goldberg Coins and Collectibles, Los Angeles, CA, https://goldbergcoins.com/
Münzen & Medaillen GmbH, New York, NY.https://muenzenundmedaillendeutschland.de/
Numismatica Ars Classica, Zurich, CH and London, EN, https://www.arsclassicacoins.com/
Roma Numismatics, London, EN, https://www.romanumismatics.com/
