Description:
In the Classical Greek era, Corinth was a powerful city-state on the Isthmus of Corinth in present-day Greece. In 400 BC, Corinth had a population of 90,000 and was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece, rivaling Athens and Thebes in wealth. The city had two main ports on each side of the Isthmus, one connected the city to its western colonies in Magna Graecia, while the other served the ships coming from Athens, Ionia, Cyprus and the Levant.
This 4th century BC Corinthian coin features Pegasus, the pure white mythological flying horse who first set foot on Earth at Corinth. With the help of Athena, who presented him with a golden bridle, a young Corinthian nobleman named Bellerophon captured Pegasus while he paused to drink from a spring. He then tamed Pegasus so he could ride on its back and defeat both the Chimera and the Amazons, tasks which would otherwise have been impossible for a mortal. Pegasus was also mortal and because of his faithful service, on the last day of his life, Zeus, the king of the gods, transformed him into a constellation.
On the reverse side of this coin, Athena is shown wearing a Corinthian helmet. Athena was the goddess of wisdom, peace, warfare, strategy and reason. An armed warrior goddess, Athena appears in Greek mythology as a helper of many heroes, including Odysseus, Jason and Hercules. In Classical Greek myths she never consorts with a lover, earning the title Athena Parthenos "Athena the Virgin", hence the name of her most famous temple, the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens.
