SNAKES have always had an aura ofmystery and danger about them, and

in ancient times people were fascinatedby them. It is therefore not surprisingthat snakes feature in Greco-Romanreligion and that they appear commonlyon ancient coins.

In Judaism and Christianity there wasa tendency to see snakes as evil. Thiswas because in the book of Genesis asnake represents Satan and tempts Eveto disobey God. But the ancient Greeksand Romans had a positive view ofsnakes. They knew that if someone wasbitten by a snake they could die, but thismeant that snakes had power over lifeand death. Moreover they observed that asnake could shed its skin and in a way bereborn. So they had power over renewaland resurrection. All this meant thatsnakes were not like ordinary creatures:they belonged to the supernatural realm.Accordingly they appear with gods andgoddesses, especially those concernedwith healing. The god of healing was Asclepius,known to the Romans as Aesculapius.His birthplace was said to be Trikka inThessaly in northern Greece. He is shownfeeding a snake on a coin minted atTrikka in the 1st half of the 4th centuryBC. (Figure 1) In Greek mythology hewas the son of Apollo, and his daughterwas Hygieia, from whose name the Eng-lish word, ‘hygiene’, is derived. She wasthe goddess of health. On a silver coin ofTrikka from about 420 BC a woman isshown feeding a snake. (Figure 2) To theRomans Hygieia was known as Salus, aword which had the meaning of generalwelfare as well as health. From her namethe English words ‘salute’ and ‘salutation’derive. The latter means wishing some-one well. Salus appears commonly onRoman coins. (Figure 3)The chief centre for the worship ofAsclepius was at Epidaurus in the east-ern part of the Peloponnesus. People who

needed healing travelled to Epidaurusfrom all over the Greek and Roman world.In his temple Asclepius was shown withhis hand on the head of a snake, indi-cating that it was his agent. (Figure 4)On a coin of Epidaurus he is also shownwith his hand on a snake. (Figure 5) Theruins of the temple can still be seen.Near the temple there was a building inwhich the sick slept with snakes. (Figure6) Presumably the snakes were tameand non-poisonous, but the psychologicaleffect of sleeping with them must havebeen enormous. No wonder many peoplewere cured! Another important centre for theworship of Asclepius was at Pergamum(Greek: Pergamon) in western Anatolia.Today tourists visit the extensive ruinsbut in ancient times sick people wentthere in large numbers in the hope ofbeing healed. One of them was the Roman

Snakes onAncientCoinsby Peter E. Lewis

An albino reticulated python (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 1 – Reverse of a bronze coin of Trikkashowing Asclepius feeding a bird to a snake.In the worship of Asclepius chickens were sac-rificed to the god. (Nomos Auction 4, Lot 1358)

Figure 2 – Reverse of a silver coin of Trikkashowing a woman feeding a snake. (NomosAuction 9, Lot 112)

Figure 3 – Reverse of a sestertius of AntoninusPius minted at Rome in 144 AD. It shows Salusfeeding a snake. SALVS AVG means “The em-peror’s health.” He was unwell at the time. (Num-ismatica Ars Classica, Auction 74, Lot 308)

emperor, Caracalla, who visited thetemple in 214 AD. Asclepius is typicallyshown on coins leaning on a staff aroundwhich a snake is coiled. (Figure 7) Amarble statue of Asclepius in a similarpose was found at Pergamum and is nowin the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.(Figure 8) The visit of Caracalla is

recorded on coins, and on one Asclepiushas taken the snake from his staff andis holding it up. (Figure 9) This suggeststhat the god did actually move and mighthave held a real snake. On another coinhe has come out of the temple and isstanding close to Caracalla. (Figure 10)Perhaps a priest pretended to be the godand provided a special manifestation forthe emperor. Also at Pergamum there was a cult ofDionysus, the god of wine, and snakeswere involved in this. Secret orgiasticrites were held, and little is known aboutthem, but the large silver coin known asa cistophorus seems to refer to them.The word means ‘basket-bearer’ and onthe obverse the lid of a basket (the cistamystica) has been lifted and a snake issliding out. It must refer to Dionysusbecause the surrounding wreath of ivyleaves was one of his symbols. On thereverse there is a bow case between twosnakes, and on the right the staff sur-mounted by a pine cone is known as thethyrsus and it too was a symbol ofDionysus. (Figure 11) Other cities in the

Figure 4 – A reconstruction of the temple of Asclepius at Epidaurus. The god has his hand on the head of a snake. (Wikimedia Commons: Wellcome Trust)

Figure 5 – Reverse of a silver drachm minted atEpidaurus in 250-245 BC. Asclepius has hishand on the head of a snake. A dog lies besidehis throne. (Freeman & Sear, Manhattan Sale11, Lot 53)

Figure 6 – Black and white version of an oilpainting, “Patients sleeping in the Temple ofAesculapius at Epidaurus,” by Ernest Board(1877-1934). A priest is performing a ritual overa lighted tripod. (Wikimedia Commons: Well-come Library)

region issued similar cistophori, but thesymbol on the right varied. There was a temple of Aesculapius atRome, and how the god came to Rome isan interesting story. It begins with aprophetess called Sibyl who wrote ninebooks which she wanted to sell to the kingof Rome, Tarquinius Superbus (534-510BC). Because he would not pay the priceshe demanded she proceeded to burn thebooks. When there were only three left hepaid for them what she wanted for thenine. The precious books were kept in

the temple of Jupiter on the CapitolineHill, to be consulted only if there was anemergency. In 293 BC a plague began toravage the city, and the Roman Senateconsulted the Sibylline books. The inter-pretation was that a temple to the godof healing should be built in Rome, anda delegation was sent to Epidaurus tobring Aesculapius to Rome. When theidol was being rowed up the Tiber a snakeslipped off the ship and swam to an islandin the river. The people saw this as a signthat the god wanted his temple to bebuilt there, and a temple complex mod-elled on that at Epidaurus was erectedon the island in 289 BC. There is notrace of it today, but the whole event isillustrated on a medallion of AntoninusPius. (Figure 12) What is amazing aboutthis story is that Aesculapius, or ratherhis agent, was exactly what the cityneeded. The plague was probably causedby rats, and the snakes which no doubtmultiplied as at Epidaurus would havekilled the rats. The payment to Sibyl wasworth it.

Figure 7 – Reverse of a bronze coin of Com-modus as Caesar (166-177 AD) minted atPergamum. It shows Asclepius in his temple.(Gorny & Mosch Auction 147, Lot 1830)

Figure 8 – Marble statue of Asclepius found atPergamum. It is of Greek or Roman origin. Itis in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. (Wiki-media Commons: photo by Magnus Manske)

Figure 10 – Reverse of a gold aureus of Cara-calla minted at Rome. Caracalla holds a pateraover a lighted altar. Asclepius has come to thefront of the temple and is face to face with theemperor. The small person on the left is Teles-phorus, a young deity who was an associateof Asclepius. (Numismatica Ars Classica,Auction 52, Lot 521)

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Figure 9 – Reverse of a bronze medallion ofCaracalla (198-217 AD) minted at Pergamum.Caracalla holds a patera while an attendant isabout to kill a tethered ox with an axe or amallet. In the temple Asclepius holds up asnake. (The New York sale, Auction XXIII, Lot 59)

In keeping with their positive view ofsnakes the ancient Greeks believed in agood spirit of the cornfields called Agatha-daemon (good spirit). He was shown inGreek art as a youth or a snake with ahuman head. The name reflects the factthat snakes protected the crops by killingrats and mice. Agathadaemon appearson a coin of Nero minted at Alexandriain Egypt. (Figure 13) Egypt was animportant source of the grain needed tofeed the population of Rome.

For the Greeks Delphi was particularlyimportant because it was the centre ornavel of the world. To find this centreZeus, the chief of the gods, released twoeagles from the ends of the earth and theymet at Delphi. To mark this sacred spot

a conical stone known as the omphalos(navel) was set up and it appears oncoins often with a snake coiled around it.(Figure 14) The snake was called Pythonand he was created by Gaia, the goddessof the earth, to protect Mount Parnassuson the slopes of which Delphi was situ-ated. When Apollo arrived at Delphihe killed Python with an arrow, and heis often shown on coins sitting on theomphalos. The most amazing snake of all wasGlycon, who appears on a number ofancient coins. Apart from the coins littlewould be known about him if it were notfor the satirical writing of Lucian whotravelled widely in the Roman Empirein the 2nd century AD. Lucian liked toexpose charlatans, and the most success-ful trickster at the time was Alexanderof Abonuteichus. He lived from about 105to 175 AD and he also travelled widely.In Abonuteichus, which today is Ineboluon the north coast of Turkey, the peoplewere aware of a prophecy that Asklepius

Figure 11 – A cistophoros minted at Pergamumin about 104-98 BC. (Nomos Auction 11, Lot 105)

Figure 12 – Reverse of a medallion of AntoninusPius (138-161 AD) minted at Rome. A galleyemerges from under a bridge and a snake on itsprow is about to jump into the river to swimtowards a temple complex situated on a rockybase. The Tiber river-god welcomes the newgod whose name appears at the bottom. (TheNew York Sale, Auction XXV, Lot 185)

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Figure 13 – Reverse of a billon tetradrachm ofNero minted at Alexandria in Egypt. It showsthe snake Agathadaemon with a bunch ofgrain ears and poppies. He is wearing anEgyptian crown known as the pshent crown.(Roma Numismatics, Auction 4, Lot 2067)

Figure 14 – Reverse of a bronze coin ofHadrian (117-138 AD) minted at Delphi. It showsthe snake, Python, coiled around the omphalos.(Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 55, Lot 399)

igure 15 – Reverse of a bronze coin of Antoni-nus Pius minted at Abonuteichus in Paphlag-onia. It shows the snake, Glycon. He seems tobe smoking a cigar, but it is his forked tongue.(Naville Numismatics, Auction 22, Lot 195)

would come to live in their town, andthey began to build a temple to him. See-ing an opportunity, Alexander produceda large snake and claimed that it was theincarnation of Asclepius. Its name wasGlycon and Alexander acted as its high-priest and interpreter. It was installedin the temple and was widely consultedas an oracle. To impress the gullibleAlexander sat in a darkened room withGlycon on his lap. Glycon was probablya hand-puppet or perhaps a real snake(a large python) with an artificial head at-tached. No doubt Alexander used magic

tricks to great effect, and one suspectsthat magic tricks were performed in thetemples of other gods in ancient times.Several important people were duped byAlexander including Rutilianus who hadbeen proconsul of Asia. Even the em-peror, Marcus Aurelius, listened to one ofGlycon’s oracles. To defeat the barbariansnorth of the Danube he would have tothrow two lions into the river. MarcusAurelius actually did this and the lionswere promptly clubbed to death whenthey reached the other side. Not deterred,the Roman army crossed the river, andthey too were promptly annihilated.

But the oracle retained its reputationand the coins show that it survived atleast to the middle of the 3rd century. The people of Abonuteichus were proudof their famous oracle and they issuedcoins with Glycon on the reverse. (Figure15). Other cities in the region did like-wise, and on their coins he has a humanor human-like head. (Figures 16 and 17)In 1962 during excavations at Tomis,which today is Constanta in Romania, agroup of marble objects was found (Fig-ure 18) and amongst them was a statueof Glycon. (Figure 19) It is on displayin the Museum of National History andArchaeology in Constanta, and its imagehas appeared on the stamps (Figure20) and banknotes (Figure 21) of Ro-mania. Thanks to Lucian we can laughat Glycon now and not be overcome withawe at seeing an incarnation of Asclepius.

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Figure 16 – Reverse of a bronze coin of Cara-calla minted at Nicomedia in Bithynia. Itshows the snake, Glycon, with a human head.(London Ancient Coins, Auction 42, Lot 260)

Figure 17 - Reverse of a bronze coin of Cara-calla minted at Nicomedia in Bithynia. Glyconhas a human-like head with long hair. (Classi-cal Numismatic Group, Auction 103, Lot 569)

Figure 18 – Group of marble objects found atConstanta in Romania. The large marble statueof a woman is the city goddess, Tyche. Shewears a mural crown. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 19 – Marble statue of Glycon. Its height is66 cms. His head looks more like a sheep’s headthan a human head. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 21 – Glycon on a 10,000 lei Romanian banknote issued in 1994. The standing figure is the Tyche that was found with Glycon.

Figure 20 – Glycon on a stamp of Romania issued in 1994.