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Deultum AE24 Jurakova 411 of Tranquillina

Tranquillina AE28 of Deultum, Thrace. SAB TRANQVILLINA AVG, draped bust right / COL F L PAC DEVLTVM, Andromeda being rescued from the cliffs by Perseus, who holds the head of Medusa, and stepping on dead sea serpent below.

Lot No.2608. VF.

$ 595.

This coin depicts the myth of Perseus where he rescues the daughter of King Cepheus in return for her hand in marriage. Cepheus' queen Cassiopeia boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids and as a punishment, Poseidon flooded the kingdom and sent a sea-monster to ravage the land.

King Cepheus consulted the oracle of Zeus-Ammon and was told that he would have to sacrifice his daughter Andromeda to the monster to appease it. Andromeda was then chained to a cliff and it was at this point that Perseus, returning from slaying Medusa, flew by on Pegasus and immediately fell in love with her. He arranged with Cepheus to kill the sea-monster if he could marry the king's daughter.

The scene on the coin shows Perseus helping Andromeda down from the cliff-face after he has defeated the monster and released Andromeda from her chains, still holding the head of Medusa in his left hand, dead sea serpent at feet.

Same dies as CNG 39 Lot 918.

Furia Sabina Tranquillina was the daughter of Gordian III's Praetorian Prefect Timistheus and was married to Gordian in 241 AD.