CORINTHIA, Corinth. AR Drachm. c. 350-300 BC. Obv: Pegasos flying right, koppa below. Rev: Head of the Nymph Peirene left; L behind. 2.25 g. BCD 150; SNG Lockett 2122. Ex. Bruun Rasmussen
This silver drachm was struck in Corinth, c. 350-300 BC. On the obverse we see the flying Pegasus, and on the reverse the head of the Nymph Peirene.
The Pegasus was a winged horse, born from the liaison of the sea-god Poseidon and the beautiful Medusa. The legends tells how Bellerophon, who became king of Corinth, managed to tame Pegasus with the use of a golden bridle given to him by Athena. This is why Pegasus appears on so many of the coins from Corinth and her colonies.
(Photo: dorian.gr. Edited by me
Peirene was a Naiad-nymph who is connected to a fountain in Corinth. It was said to be a favored watering-hole of Pegasus. Peirene was the daughter of the river-god Asopos. She was abducted to the site that became Corinth by the god Poseidon. Peirene and Poseidon had two sons, Lekhes and Kenkhrias. They were the eponymous founders of the city’s two harbors. The two harbours of Corinth was Lechaeum on the Corinthian Gulf and Cenchreae on the Saronic Gulf.
Pausanias writes about the fountain of Peirene, after a visit to Corinth:
“…After this is the entrance to the water of Peirene. The legend about Peirene is that she was a woman who became a spring because of her tears shed in lamentation for her son Cenchrias, who was unintentionally killed by Artemis. The spring is ornamented with white marble, and there have been made chambers like caves, out of which the water flows into an open-air well. It is pleasant to drink, and they say that the Corinthian bronze, when red-hot, is tempered by this water, since bronze the Corinthians have not.” (Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.3.3)
Another story says that the fountain was created by the hoof of Pegasus striking the ground (Evslin, 2012).
Photo: Archived
Evslin, B. (2012). Gods, Demigods and Demons: An Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology. Open Road Media
