Description:
This rare bronze coin was minted in the Greek Aeolian city of Kyme, which was located along the coastline of the Aegean Sea in present-day western-Turkey. According to legend, the city was founded by the Amazon warrior commander named Kyme. In Greek mythology, the Amazons were a race of warlike women famous for their riding skills, courage and pride. They lived at the outer limits of the known world often associated with the area around the southern coast of the Black Sea.
The women fought their way through Asia Minor, participating in the Trojan War, subduing the countryside and eventually founding great cities. Kyme was regarded as the largest and most important of the twelve coastal Aeolian cities in Asia Minor. With an excellent harbor and thriving shipping trade, the maritime power of Kyme prospered.
Artemis is shown on this ancient Kyme coin as the huntress, carrying her bow and quiver of arrows over her shoulder. The reverse of this coin depicts a single-handled vase between two laurel branches. In Greek mythology, the Olympian Goddess Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and twin sister of Apollo and one of the most widely admired and worshiped of all the ancient Greek deities. She was the goddess of hunting which encompassed all wildlife and her favorite hunting companion was Orion. Artemis was also the goddess of all women, with a particular focus on childbirth. In the city of Ephesus, she was worshiped at the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
