‘LARISSA’ is the name of a moon ofthe planet Neptune. This moon was

called ‘Larissa’ after a nymph (a beaut-iful mythical young woman) who hadthree children with Neptune, the god ofthe sea. He was known to the Greeks asPoseidon.

‘Larissa’ is a popular name for girls insome European countries, and it be-came widely known after the film Doc-tor Zhivago was released because thename of one of the leading characterswas ‘Larissa’, or ‘Lara’ for short. Thehaunting musical background of thefilm is called ‘Lara’s Theme’, and it issuitable music with which to imagine anymph in her natural environment.(Figure 1)

‘Larissa’ in Greek just means ‘citadel’or ‘fortress’, and there were several citiescalled ‘Larissa’ in the ancient world. Themyth of the nymph, Larissa, is centred onthe city of Larissa in Thessaly, which isa large region in northern Greece. (Figure2 – map) This city was the chief city inThessaly and it dominated the surround-ing plain from its citadel situated on a lowhill protected by the river Peneus. Theplain of Thessaly was suitable for rearing

Mount Olympus (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 1 – ‘A Nymph in the Forest’, a paintingby Charles-Amable Lenoir, 1860-1926. (Wiki-media Commons) Figure 2 – Map of Thessaly drawn by the author to show places mentioned in the text.

horses and they often appear on the coins.The nymph appears on many of the obolsminted at Larissa. An obol is a smallsilver coin worth a sixth of a drachm. Larissa loved bouncing a ball. (Figure 3)If she lived in Australia today she wouldbe a member of the women’s basketballteam, the Opals (Figure 4). Surprisingly,the ball that she played with was similarto a modern basketball. It was made ofleather pieces sewn together and insidethere was an air-filled bladder, but therewas no rubber in it because rubber wasnot discovered until the 18th century.In1770, when Captain Cook found the eastcoast of Australia, a chemist in Eng-land, Joseph Priestly, found that he couldrub out pencil marks with it and he calledit ‘rubber’. Ball games were popular inancient Greece and they usually involvedthrowing a ball back and forth betweenopposing teams. These games were formen only, but a woman could, of course,play with a ball on her own, as Larissadid. On one obol (Figure 5) Larissa istrying to throw a ball through a hoop

that she is holding. If she was alivetoday she would be keen to be an Opalor a Diamond (a member of the Aus-tralian netball team). On other obolsshe is shown in various poses with aball. On one she stands and bounces aball. (Figure 6) On another she sits on ahydria, which was a large vessel forholding water, and bounces a ball on herhand. (Figure 7) The hydria must havebeen made of bronze to take her weight.In the city of Krannon, 25 kms SW ofLarissa, a hydria was put on a cart andwheeled through the city as the peopleprayed to Apollo for rain. (Figure 8) Onsome obols of Larissa she is sitting on ahydria and has just kicked a ball withher right foot. (Figure 9) She is pointingand smiling, which suggests that shewas aiming at a target. In the moderngame of soccer the players kick a ball ata target. So does this make Larissa aprototypical Matilda? Unfortunately when Larissa was play-ing with her ball it bounced into the riverPeneus and when she tried to retrieve itshe fell in. The hydria that often appearson the obols with her might allude tothis fate. But she did not die because theriver god made her a water nymph. Theriver flowed into the sea, hence the unionof Poseidon with Larissa. In Greek mythology there are varioustypes of nymph. There are woodlandnymphs and water nymphs, but all are

young and pretty, like pop stars today.Also like many pop stars Larissa wasvain, and on some obols she is shownadmiring herself in a mirror. (Figure 10)Early in the 4th century BC when theLarissan die-engravers saw the beauti-ful tetradrachms minted at Syracuse inSicily to show the nymph, Arethusa (Fig-ure 11), they copied the image for theirnymph, Larissa. (Figures 12 and 13) Along series of these coins followed, untilabout 344 BC when Philip II annexedThessaly to his Macedonian kingdom. Larissa first minted coins in about

Figure 3 – Obol of Larissa from about 400 BCshowing the nymph running and bouncing aball, like a modern basketball player. TheGreek letters are ΛΑΡΙ (LARI). 12 mms diameter.(Triton XV, Lot 162)

Figure 4 – An Opal in training. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 5 – Obol of Larissa from about 400 BCshowing the nymph throwing a ball through ahoop. 14 mms diameter. (Triton XV, lot 262.1)

Figure 7 – Obol of Larissa from about 400 BCshowing the nymph bouncing a ball on herhand while sitting on a hydria with its openingfacing the viewer. 12 mms diameter. (TritonXV, Lot 165)

Figure 8 – Dichalkon of Krannon from the 4th

century BC. A hydria was wheeled through thecity in times of drought, when the peopleprayed to Apollo for rain. If a crow landedon a wheel, as on this coin, their prayerswould be answered. 18 mms diameter. (RomaNumismatics eAuction 7, Lot 121)

Figure 9 – Obol of Larissa from about 400 BCshowing the nymph sitting on a hydria and kick-ing a ball. Two of the three handles of the hydriaare visible. 12 mms diameter. (Triton XV, Lot 164)

Figure 6 – Obol of Larissa from about 400 BCshowing the nymph standing and bouncinga ball. 13 mms diameter. (Nomos Auction 4,Lot 1118)

470 BC and an obol from this time showsthe nymph on the obverse and a sandalon the reverse. (Figure 14) The sandalis made of narrow leather straps and isdesigned to fit a foot closely, but why doesa sandal appear on this coin?The sandal belongs to Jason, the fa-mous Greek hero. Everyone knows thestory of Jason and the Argonauts andhow they brought the Golden Fleecefrom Colchis, which was at the easternend of the Black Sea . (Figure 15) Jason

is shown on a hemidrachm of Larissafrom this early period. (Figure 16) Thestory of Jason actually dates from the13th century BC, even before the TrojanWar, and it is mainly historical. Histor-

ians think that the people of Colchismight have collected specks of gold bylaying fleeces on the river bed, and theGreeks wanted gold. Jason was the son of Aeson, the king

Figure 10 – Trihemiobol of Larissa from about400 BC showing the nymph looking in a mirrorand touching her hair. She sits on a chair with acover on it. 14 mms diameter. (Triton XV, Lot 362.3)

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Figure 12 – Drachm of Larissa from the earlyto mid 4th century BC. It shows a three-quarterfacing head of the nymph, Larissa. 18 mms di-ameter. (Triton XV, Lot 198)

Figure 13 – Figure 12 with colour added.

Figure 11 – Tetradrachm of Syracuse from 405-400 BC. The name of the nymph, Arethusa, is inGreek at the top, and the name of the engraver, Kimon, is on her headband. Dolphins swimaround. (Numismatica Ars Classica Auction 77, Lot 17)

of Iolcus in Thessaly . The ruins of Iolcusare just north-west of the modern townof Volos. When Aeson’s half-brother,Pelias, seized the throne, Jason wassmuggled out of the city to Mount Pelion,where he was raised by the centaur,Chiron. (Figure 17) Ominously Pelias waswarned by an oracle to beware of a manwearing only one sandal. When Jason grew up, he was on ajourney in the countryside when he cameto the river Anauros, where an old hagwas begging passers-by to carry heracross the muddy river. Jason carried her,not knowing that she was the goddessHera in disguise. (Figure 18) Hera wasthe wife of Zeus, the chief of the gods, wholived with his family on Mount Olym-pus overlooking the plain of Thessaly.Half way across the river she becamevery heavy and one of Jason’s sandalscame off in the mud. Sometime later,Pelias attended a ceremony by the seato make sacrifices to Poseidon, and whoshould be there attending the ceremony,but Jason wearing only one sandal. Jasondid not recognize Pelias who noticed thathe wore only one sandal. When Peliasasked him who he was, he replied that hewas the son of Aeson. Pelias then asked

Jason, “What would you do if an oracletold you that someone was destined tokill you?” It was then that Hera putwords in Jason’s mouth, and he blurtedout, “I would send him to fetch thegolden ram’s fleece from Colchis.” Therest is history, and myth. The idea of a man wearing only onesandal has a historical basis. In ancientGreece warriors from Aetolia were fam-ous for their habit of fighting with a shoeonly on their left foot. Various reasonsfor this have been given, but the mostlikely is that in hand-to-hand combatthe left foot was used to kick the oppo-nent, much like kick-boxing today. So

the left foot was the fighting foot, and inancient Greece a man would never crossthe threshold of a friend’s house byputting his left foot first. This is whyAustralian soldiers today always beginto march off with the left foot. The myth explaining how the ram’sfleece came to be in Colchis is interest-ing. It concerns the ruler of Boeotia inGreece, Athamas, and his son, Phrixus.When the harvest failed, Athamas askedthe Delphic Oracle what was amiss andwas told that fertility would return tothe land only if he sacrificed his son toZeus on Mount Laphystium, which wasnear Mount Pelion. Weeping loudly, Atha-mas led Phrixus to the mountain topand was about to cut his throat when awinged golden ram, sent by Zeus, flewdown from Mount Olympus and toldPhrixus to jump on its back. The ramthen flew away to Colchis where Phrixussacrificed it to Zeus. Phrixus is shownclinging to the ram on a bronze coin ofHalos, which was about 25 kms south ofPherae. (Figure 19)The historical basis for this story mightbe the practice among some prehistorictribes of regularly sacrificing the king

Figure 14 – Obol of Larissa from about 470 BC showing the nymph Larissa on the obverseand a sandal on the reverse. The letters above the sandal are ΛΑ (LA for Larissa). 9 mms diameter.(Triton XV, Lot 139)

Figure 15 – Copper token issued by the FrenchColonies in America in 1755. It shows Jason’svessel, the Argo, returning with the fleecehanging on its mast. 29 mms diameter. (Inter-national Coin Exchange Auction 3, Lot 2525)

Figure 16 – Hemidrachm of Larissa from about470 BC showing Jason’s head on the obverseand his sandal on the reverse. Jason wears apetasos, which was a broad-brimmed hat withstrings to stop it blowing off in the wind. It pre-vented the horsemen of Thessaly getting sun-burnt. 14.5 mms diameter. (Triton XV, Lot 132)

Figure 17 – Tetrachalkon of the Magnetes, whoinhabited eastern Thessaly. It dates from the2nd century BC and shows the centaur, Chiron,holding a branch over his shoulder. There is amonogram below. 21 mms diameter. (NomosAuction 4, lot 1179)

Figure 18 – Obol of Gomphi-Philippopolisfrom about 350 BC showing the head of thegoddess, Hera. The city was near the westernborder of Thessaly. 10 x 11 mms. (Nomos Auc-tion 4, Lot 1042)

or his surrogate. According to RobertGraves, the author of The Greek Myths,from which much of the information inthis article comes, there was an annualhuman sacrifice, first of a boy dressedin a ram’s fleece, and later a ram. Whatis interesting about the story of Athamasand Phrixus is that it is similar to thestory of Abraham and Isaac in the OldTestament (Genesis 22:1-19). Abrahamwas about to sacrifice Isaac when he sawa ram caught by its horns in a bush andsacrificed it instead of his son. The moralof both stories was probably that humansacrifice was no longer acceptable. Modern coin collectors owe a debt ofgratitude to great coin collectors, suchas BCD, who sought out and studiedancient Greek coins, which can now beseen on the Internet. These coins shinea light on the history of ancient Greece,which is where the institutions of West-ern civilization come from. Even sports,such as ball games, come from ancientGreece. Just as the nymph Larissa wasfascinated by a bouncing ball, so todayare millions of sports-crazy fans. Hope-fully Larissa’s example will encouragemore young women to play ball games(Figure 20) and the round ball will remindthem that the moon, Larissa, is revolvingaround the planet Neptune as they play.Postscript: Congratulations to the Diamondsfor winning the Netball World Cup.

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Figure 19 - Dichalkon of Halos, early 3rd c. BC.The boy Phrixus is clinging to the ram. 19 mmsdiam. (Triton XV, Lot 85)

Figure 20 - Domed, silver coin issued by theRoyal Australian Mint to celebrate the 2015Netball World Cup. (Image courtesy RAM)

AT the end of July the Royal DutchMint released its latest single and

double Dutch ducats struck in gold. The ducat has a long and venerablehistory in the Netherlands dating backto the Dutch Revolt of 1566. By 1583 thenorthern provinces had control of theirown coinage. Among new issues was agold trade coin struck to the standardsof the internationally accepted ducat ofVenice and Hungary, among others.Initially the Dutch coins imitatedHungarian types to assist the accept-ability of their own coins but eventuallythe Dutch evolved a distinctive design oftheir own that is still in use today. The obverse shows a standing knightholding a sword and arrows represent-ing the provinces of the Dutch union -originally seven. The legend read:CONCORDIA RES PAR CRESCENTI[In harmony small things grow]. In thepast the issuing province was also named.Today the symbols of the mint and mint-master are shown.The reverse carries a decorated tabletinscribed: MO. AUR. REG. BELGII ADLEGEM IMPERII which can be freely

translated as [Gold coin of the UnitedProvinces of Belgium/Netherlands accor-ding to imperial law]. Variations on thisinscription have appeared over the years.Its origins are unclear. Over the years the coin has been con-tinued to be struck with the same weight,and composition as the original: 21 mm,3.494 g .983 fine gold. And of course theducat became one of New South Wales’proclamation coins.The 20th century saw a hiatus in pro-duction after 1937. A small issue wasmade in 1960 and erratically through-out the 1970s. Regular proof strikingscommenced 1985 with a double ducatintroduced in 1988: 26 mm, 6.988 g .983fine gold.As in recent years the 2015 issues arebased on subscription with the numberfinally struck determined by subscrip-tion. The maximum mintages are 1,500single golden ducats and 1,000 doublegolden ducats. The closing date for sub-scriptions was 31 August so if you missedout you will need to flutter your eye-lashes at you favourite bullion dealer.

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Netherlands Issues 2015 Golden Ducats

Obverse and reverse of the Netherlands’ 2015 gold double ducat.Images courtesy and © Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt.

The MetropolitanCoin Club of SydneyANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

& AUCTION1.30 pm Saturday 3rd October 2015

School of Arts, Oxford Street, Epping NSWEnquiries: Secretary, PO Box 6, Eastwood NSW 2122 Tel: (02) 9878 3147