Looking for a little assistance in transating the following ancient Greek coin inscription:
IEP§Ù NO¢²
Coin is from Sicily 275 - 215 BCE. Any help appreciated. :smack:
Should be IEPOmega NOSigma…
do you have a picture of it, or can you tell us more? what is on the coin besides the lettering?
those are no words i can recognise, and i assume they are acronyms (old coins often have acronyms instead of the full words).
It appears that it is the ancient Greek for Poseidon. Not sure how it translates from Ancient to Modern Greek to English though…
there is the possibility that these are not two words but parts of one single (but somehow fragmented) word: IEROMENOS, which means priest or sacred or something in the ballpark. maybe the ME just faded away through friction.
You might have it…thanks for your help!
Can’t help with the translation, but hopefully this is more readable:
ΙΕΡΣΩ ΝΟΣ
poseidon is poseidon in ancient greek (poseidonas in modern greek btw). and it’s not likely that they would write the name of the god on the coin, especially if he is depicted on it. gods were universally recognisable, by their physiognomy and certain devices that go with them (e.g. beard, horse, trident for poseidon).
Apollon is on the money…the coin depicts Poseidon on the obverse and a trident with dolphins on the reverse…
typhoon your inscription is correct if you eliminate the first Sigma…thanks all!
The coin is probably from Syracuse, during the reign of Hieron II; does this sound like it?
SICILY
SYRACUSE
Reign of HIERON II
275-215 BC
AE18
(Bronze 5.8 grams, 18.68 mm)
Obverse: Head of Poseidon left wearing tainia
Reverse: Dolphins either side of ornamented trident-head. IERONOS
OK, I’ll bite.
What’s a “tainia”? I can’t find it in my dictionary.
If this is just some ridiculously obvious typo, I apologize in advance. I just couldn’t figure out what it could be. Surely Poseidon wouldn’t wear a tiara.
nametag is most probably correct. IERONOS is the genitive of IERON, the name of the ruler. it weren’t two words, but one, probably separated because of some object that had to fit.
a tainia is a narrow bandana.