EGYPT. Alexandria. Antoninus Pius, 138-161. Drachm (Bronze, 34 mm, 21.19 g, 1 h), RY 10 = 146/7. [ΑYΤ Κ Τ ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤⲰΝЄΙΝΟϹ ϹЄΒ ЄYϹ] Laureate head of Antoninus Pius to right. Rev. [L ΔЄΚΑΤΟΥ] Herakles standing right, holding club over his left shoulder with his left hand and plucking apple with his right from Tree of the Hesperides around which is coiled a snake with arrow through its neck. Dattari (Savio) 8496 (this coin). Emmett 1554.10. K&G 35.354. RPC IV.4 online 13594. Minor deposits, otherwise, fair.


For his eleventh labor, Herakles was tasked by the cowardly Eurystheus to retrieve the Apples of the Hesperides, a set of golden apples gifted to Hera by Gaia on her wedding day. They were cared for by the Hesperides, nymphs who were either the daughters of Atlas or Nyx, and guarded by the monstrous hundred-headed Ladon. According to one version of the myth (Apollon. 4.1396-1405), Herakles slew the serpent with poisonous arrows dipped in the gall of the Lernaean Hydra, to the great dismay of the nymphs. According to others, Herakles had Atlas fetch the apples while he would carry the sky for the titan in the meanwhile. In any case, after Herakles brought the apples back to Eurystheus, Athena returned them to their rightful place. On our coin, clearly the more violent version of the myth is preferred, though with the slight modification that Ladon has but a single head.