{"id":764,"date":"2026-01-05T01:22:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/?p=764"},"modified":"2026-01-06T13:30:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T13:30:05","slug":"skylla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/05\/skylla\/","title":{"rendered":"Skylla"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the world of ancient numismatics, a helmet decorated with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/tag\/skylla\/\" class=\"st_tag internal_tag \" rel=\"tag\" title=\"Posts tagged with Skylla\">Skylla<\/a><\/strong> (or Scylla) is one of the most iconic and artistically sophisticated designs found on Greek coinage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the classic Athenian &#8220;Owl&#8221; coins feature <a href=\"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/tag\/athena\/\" class=\"st_tag internal_tag \" rel=\"tag\" title=\"Posts tagged with Athena\">Athena<\/a> in a helmet adorned with olive leaves, certain Western Greek colonies took the artistry to a new level by placing a mythical sea monster on her crest.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is a Skylla?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Greek mythology, Skylla was a terrifying sea monster who lived in a narrow strait (traditionally the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily).<sup><\/sup> She was usually depicted as having the upper body of a woman, but with a serpent-like fish tail and <strong>six ferocious dogs<\/strong> growing from her waist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is she on Athena&#8217;s Helmet?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The &#8220;Skylla-type&#8221; helmet is most famously associated with the city of <strong>Thurium<\/strong> (Thourioi) in <a href=\"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/tag\/lucania\/\" class=\"st_tag internal_tag \" rel=\"tag\" title=\"Posts tagged with Lucania\">Lucania<\/a> (Southern Italy).<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A Symbol of Naval Power:<\/strong> Since Skylla was a monster of the sea, her presence on the helmet symbolized the city&#8217;s maritime strength and control over the waters.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Artistic Signature:<\/strong> These coins are considered some of the finest examples of the &#8220;Classical Style.&#8221; On the high-relief silver <em>distaters<\/em> (double-nomos) of Thurium, Skylla is often shown in a dynamic pose\u2014leaning forward, scanning the horizon, or even hurling a rock.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Protection:<\/strong> Much like the Gorgon&#8217;s head (the Aegis), Skylla acted as an <em>apotropaic<\/em> symbol\u2014a magical ward intended to terrify enemies and protect the wearer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where to Find Them<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a collector or cataloguer, you will primarily see this decoration on coins from <strong>Magna Graecia<\/strong> (Southern Italy and Sicily) minted between <strong>440 BCE and 280 BCE<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Thurium (Lucania):<\/strong> The gold standard for this type. The helmet is typically an Attic style with Skylla featured prominently on the bowl.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/tag\/tarentum\/\" class=\"st_tag internal_tag \" rel=\"tag\" title=\"Posts tagged with Tarentum\">Tarentum<\/a> (Calabria):<\/strong> Found on silver drachms and diobols, often showing Skylla throwing a stone.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Velia (Lucania):<\/strong> Some early transitional types show Athena wearing a helmet with a Skylla that closely mimics the Thurian style.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cataloguer&#8217;s Tip:<\/strong> When describing these, look closely at Skylla&#8217;s hand. On the best-preserved specimens, you can often see her holding a <strong>rudder<\/strong> or a <strong>trident<\/strong>, which adds a specific layer of narrative to the coin&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the world of ancient numismatics, a helmet decorated with Skylla (or Scylla) is one of the most iconic and artistically sophisticated designs found on Greek coinage. While the classic Athenian &#8220;Owl&#8221; coins feature Athena in a helmet adorned with olive leaves, certain Western Greek colonies took the artistry to a new level by placing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-objects","tag-skylla"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":765,"href":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions\/765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinstampdb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}