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Hadrianopolis AE26 Varbanov 1718 of Commodus

Commodus AE26 of Hadrianopolis. AY KAI L AVPH KOMODOC, laureate, draped bust right / HGE IOVL KACTOV ADRIANOPOLEITWN, Ganymede standing right with thunderbolt and eagle. Moushmov -.

Lot No.3077. VF and Very Rare.

$ 1850.

According to Homer's Iliad, Book V, Ganymede was the great-grandson of Dardanus, founder of Troy. Zeus abducted Ganymede, giving his father a herd of horses by way of compensation, for he wanted the beautiful boy as his cup-bearer.

(Another version of the story has Zeus having a gay relationship with the beautiful Ganymede; this version of the myth was used by Plato and others as religious justification for their homosexuality. Click here for the story on pantheon.org.)

Galileo named one of the moons he discovered orbiting the planet Jupiter in honor of the mythical Ganymede.

Click here to see a sculpture by Cellini, influenced by Michaelangelo's, style, of Ganymede being carried off by Jupiter in the form of an eagle.

Commodus was the son of Marcus Aurelius and was made co-emperor in 177 AD. He was a megalomaniac who fancied himself the reincarnation of Hercules, and was killed in 192 AD.