Ancient Greek - AE Bronze - Ephesos (Ionia) - Artemis and Bee

Denomination: AE Bronze                                                                    

Date: Circa 383-295 BCE

Mint: Ionia, Ephetos                                                                             

Weight: 1.74 gm

Grade: Fine                                                                                          

Mount:  14K gold  

Description: Ionia, Ephesus. Obverse: Head of Artemis left, astragalos behind head. Reverse: Bee with straight wings. Inscriptions not visible. 

History: The bee, stag, and palm are all emblems of Ephesus, a Greek city on the west coast of Turkey. This city was an important center of worship for the Greek goddess Artemis, and the images on Ephesian coinage typically promote this association. The bee was originally the symbol of an early Anatolian goddess who the Greeks later identified with their goddess, Artemis; so close was the connection that the priestesses of the goddess were called "honeybees." The two Greek letters, Ε (‘epsilon’) and Φ (‘phi’), are an abbreviation for Ephesus. The palm tree alludes to Artemis' birth beneath a palm tree on the island of Delos. The stag – an animal sacred to Artemis – symbolizes the goddess' role as protector of wild animals, and may also refer to the sculptures that flanked her cult statue in the temple at Ephesus.

In the ancient world, many people carried magic talismans to ward off evil. In addition to symbols, these devices often included magic incantations, though many times there was no coherent meaning to the phrase. Such incantations are known as "Ephesian letters", since the source was alleged to be Ephesus..