copy, exhibit case layout
In 2010, I wrote object labels for the reinstallation of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum's Ancient Greek and Roman Galleries.
Unknown artist, Greek
Stater coin, 500-480 BCE
Silver
Neapolis was a colony founded to mine the precious metals of Mount Pangaeus, the mythical home of the Gorgons. Gorgons like the one pictured on this coin were mythological beings with snakes for hair whose glance turned humans to stone. Despite this fierce reputation, Gorgons were believed to protect Mount Pangaeus, and thus the livelihood of the Greeks living there. This coin therefore is a unique example of the patron deity type. The Gorgon shown was believed to have protected the very substance of which it was made.