ISLANDS OFF THRACE, Thasos. Circa 412-404 BC. Stater (Silver, 21 mm, 8.59 g). Nude satyr, bald and with long beard, moving right in 'running-kneeling' position, holding a nymph in his arms, who raises her right hand in protest; [in field to right, dolphin?]. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. BMC 31. Dewing 1324. HGC 6, 334 var. SNG Copenhagen 1017. Light scratches, otherwise, nearly very fine.
Ritual abduction as a form of exogamy was, and is still, frequent in tribal society. The reference here is probably to the Dionysiac cult and is modeled on one of the stone reliefs for which Thasos is famous. The overtly sexual displays seen on many early Greek coins can be disconcerting to the modern eye, viewing them through the lens of centuries of Christian fulminations against ‘paganism’ and its erotic excesses. These scenes are at their most graphic in northern Greece, for example, on the archaic coins of Siris and the island of Thasos, showing the interplay of nymphs and satyrs. The towns and tribes of this region were only newly introduced to the ‘civilizing’ influences of the south, and were still close to their roots in farming and herding cultures. Their gods were not the Olympian super beings, but the spirits of nature, and the emphasis was on celebrating the fecundity of fields and flocks.