DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45277#0486
402
CRETE.
Fig. 256.
T A AHN Naked winged male figure,
Talos, striding along, and about to
hurl a stone.
Young male head, Phaestos or Hera-
kles. (A. C., 1884, Pl. III. 7, 8.)
<t» AI £ TI DN Rushing bull. (Fig. 256.)
At Stater.
<t*AISi (retrogr.) Bull’s head facing
JR Drachm, | Drachm, and Obol.
Circ. b. c. 300-250.
Talos, rushing to right, hurling stones. I 0AICTID.N Dog on the scent . JE -7
(N. C., 1884, Pl. III. 11.) I
Zeus was worshipped at Phaestus in youthful form and under the
Semitic name of Velchanos, reXydros- 6 Zev$ Trapa'K.prjcriv (Hesych. s. v.). The
coins show that the correct form of the name is not TeXydros but FeXy dros.
The cock, the bird of dawn, indicates that the worship of Velchanos par-
took of a solar character. Another Cretan conception originally solar was
Talos (cf. Hesych. TdXcos 6 77'Xios), the wondrous man of brass, the work of
Hephaestos, who guarded the island of Crete, running swiftly round it
thrice every day and hurling stones at all strange vessels which ap-
proached its shores (cf. Apollonius, iv. 1638 ; Apollod., i. 9, 26). The
Cretan form of the name (if in the nominative) would appear from the
coins to have been Talon and not Talos.
The dog, which is the reverse type of the bronze coins, was, like Talos,
the work of Hephaestos and the guardian of the Cretan Zeus (De Witte,
Rev. Num., 1840, p. 188).
On a silver stater in the Greau Collection (No. 1567) ^he dog appears
between the legs of Talos.
Fhalasarna, at the north-west extremity of the island, possessed a
temple of Diktynna and a strong port (Bursian, Geog., ii. 553)- Its coin-
types refer to the worship of Diktynna and Poseidon.
Circ. b.c. 400-300.
Head of Diktynna, her hair bound
with cord passing twice round it.
Id. hair rolled.
Id.
<t>A Trident . ... JR Stater.
(B. M. Cat., Crete, Pl. XVI. 7.)
„ Id. (ZSid., XVI. 8). JR Drachm.
„ Id.JR p Drachm.
Id. | 0A Helmet.JE -6
<t>. (B. M. Cat., Crete, Pl. XVI. 10.) | Dolphin.JE-45
Folyrhenium. The territory of this important town occupied the
greater part of the western end of the island. The temple of Diktynna
CRETE.
Fig. 256.
T A AHN Naked winged male figure,
Talos, striding along, and about to
hurl a stone.
Young male head, Phaestos or Hera-
kles. (A. C., 1884, Pl. III. 7, 8.)
<t» AI £ TI DN Rushing bull. (Fig. 256.)
At Stater.
<t*AISi (retrogr.) Bull’s head facing
JR Drachm, | Drachm, and Obol.
Circ. b. c. 300-250.
Talos, rushing to right, hurling stones. I 0AICTID.N Dog on the scent . JE -7
(N. C., 1884, Pl. III. 11.) I
Zeus was worshipped at Phaestus in youthful form and under the
Semitic name of Velchanos, reXydros- 6 Zev$ Trapa'K.prjcriv (Hesych. s. v.). The
coins show that the correct form of the name is not TeXydros but FeXy dros.
The cock, the bird of dawn, indicates that the worship of Velchanos par-
took of a solar character. Another Cretan conception originally solar was
Talos (cf. Hesych. TdXcos 6 77'Xios), the wondrous man of brass, the work of
Hephaestos, who guarded the island of Crete, running swiftly round it
thrice every day and hurling stones at all strange vessels which ap-
proached its shores (cf. Apollonius, iv. 1638 ; Apollod., i. 9, 26). The
Cretan form of the name (if in the nominative) would appear from the
coins to have been Talon and not Talos.
The dog, which is the reverse type of the bronze coins, was, like Talos,
the work of Hephaestos and the guardian of the Cretan Zeus (De Witte,
Rev. Num., 1840, p. 188).
On a silver stater in the Greau Collection (No. 1567) ^he dog appears
between the legs of Talos.
Fhalasarna, at the north-west extremity of the island, possessed a
temple of Diktynna and a strong port (Bursian, Geog., ii. 553)- Its coin-
types refer to the worship of Diktynna and Poseidon.
Circ. b.c. 400-300.
Head of Diktynna, her hair bound
with cord passing twice round it.
Id. hair rolled.
Id.
<t>A Trident . ... JR Stater.
(B. M. Cat., Crete, Pl. XVI. 7.)
„ Id. (ZSid., XVI. 8). JR Drachm.
„ Id.JR p Drachm.
Id. | 0A Helmet.JE -6
<t>. (B. M. Cat., Crete, Pl. XVI. 10.) | Dolphin.JE-45
Folyrhenium. The territory of this important town occupied the
greater part of the western end of the island. The temple of Diktynna