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Dionysus is the 6^th coin in this series, after: Ares, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Apollo and Zeus.

Donysus, also known as Bacchus, is the god of pleasure, fertility and wine. Satyrs (half humans and half goats) and maenads were his companions. On the reverse of the coin, a satyr is pouring wine to Silenus. Silenus, the chubby, obese, bald guy with horse ears and a tail was the most famous of the satyrs. Silenus the drunkard is the god of shepherds, vegetation and ecstatic joy. On my coin he drinks from a vessel that looks more like a medieval than an ancient Greek chalice. Why? Just for fun ;).
Near to Silenus,we see a typical Greek amphorae for transporting a wine and a gold krater (or crater) for mixing wine and water. On the krater, a large two-handled vase we see a symposium scene (in Greek: Συμπόσιον means to drinking together). In ancient Greece a symposium was the part of a banquet reserved only for men, that followed the main meal when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing or conversation.

Dionysus lies on a huge cornucopia and he is obscenely swallowing a grape. With his other hand, he pours the wine not from a rhyton (a typical horn-shaped vessel for drinking wine at libations), but from a flat goblet called in Greek a kylix.

Maenads (or, according to Euripides’ famous tragedy, bacchantes), are dancing in the background. Their characters were directly taken from my own sketch of Cronus. I turned the innocent nymphs, hiding baby Zeus in cradles into bacchantes of the cult of god of wine.

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I will not write much about this project, because its iconography is not complicated. There is less symbolism here than in the previous 4 coins of the series (see: Ares, Poseidon, Hephaestus and Apollo). Zeus, god of storms and lightning, flies among the clouds. Behind him we see the Mont Olympus. Atributes of Zeus are: eagle and aegis—the shield of Zeus and Athena, featuring the head of Medusa and made of Amalthea’s skin. Amalthea was the goat who suckled the infant Zeus.

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See my Ares, Poseidon and Hephaestus in the same series.

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Apollo fell in love with beautiful nymph Daphne but she rejected his advances. Not discouraged Apollo chased her until she lost strength. Just before giving her a big kiss, Daphne asked her father, the god of the river, to transform her into a laurel tree. On my coin the scene depicts the moment, when Daphne changes into a laurel tree. On the background we see: Daphne’s father, an amphora (the symbol of god of the river), the waterfall and the river.

I like when my projects are not so simple as they could be. Sometimes I try to add something unusual, something surprising, not always obvious at a glance. Just for playing a game . Poseidon was gliding over the waves like a surfer and Apollo and Daphne are dancing Argentine tango. They are in the very specific position and this is a real figure of Argentine tango. It’s very emotional dance… like love.

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Third coin in this series after Ares and Poseidon. See fourth coin: Apollo.

They said about this coin:

„Incredible Silver Coin.” Backyard Bullion on YT

Mr. Hephaestus, a big muscle man is working in the forge. This room seems to be too small for him. He is a little clumsy—according to mythology, he was “shrivelled of foot”.

Hephaestus is forging a sword. His clumsy fingers are holding the pincers of the blacksmith. Behind him we see the armour, sword and famous shield of Achilles, and by his right leg the helmet of Achilles. Behind Hephaestus’ back are the blacksmith’s tools and the thunderbolts of Zeus.

On the initial sketch the hammer strike looks different, but it seemed to unnatural to me. So I changed the hand position on the final design. See below.

The shield of Achilles was drawn as a separate element. I drew it according to the description in the Homer’s Iliad. The first circle is the sea, earth, sky, sun, moon and stars. Then there is a circle with two cities. On the one side we see a dancing wedding procession, two men quarreling over payment for a murder. On the other side of this circle: a city siege. The next circle depicts the harvest, cattle, and vine growing. Next are girls and boys dancing the Ariadne dance that Daedalus invented. The last circle is fulfilled by Oceanus—the outer sea.

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My favorite coin in this series. After Ares.

The god of the sea slides on the waves like a surfer. In classical approach, Poseidon would rather drive a chariot pulled by hippocamps (sea-horses), but here he pulls them behind him. A large shell and tentacles of octopus in the Poseidon’s waist protect him from injuries. 🙂
On the right we see Triton (half man, half fish), the messenger of the sea, the son of Poseidon. Triton plays his conch shell. Its sound calms or raises the waves…

Links and quotations:

“Last years outstanding Ares God of War silver coin followed by equally stunning Poseidon”.
“Ares: God of War from Numiartis and the Mint of Poland joined the market to much applause early last year. Early renders hinted at something special, but we were hugely impressed by the finished article and so were collectors. We all know the jokes about the ‘difficult second album’, but following a hit coin is never easy. We’re stoked to see that this years issue is very much the equal of Ares.” AgAuNews

“Best coin in the world? “Poseidon” – Ultra High Relief, Gold Gilded “Gods” series II” Backyard Bullion YouTube

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I’m very proud. My Ares became a world hit coin. A lot of further high relief coin desings, especially mythology themed coins, are inspired by Ares dynamic composition.

From the beginning the project was to be very dynamic: Ares leads his army to attack. On the left, we see a temple emerging from the clouds of Mount Olympus. Ares is not only the god of war and destruction, but also the god of the courage and heroism—his attribute is the lion (seen on the shield).

About this coin:

“A very dynamic design.”: AgAuNews

“This (…) coin looks to be a hugely dynamic and interesting piece of work and we for one can’t wait to see the finished article. The Mint of Poland are hugely capable and we’d expect this to be of a very high standard when it’s fully realised.”: AgAuNews

“The final coin easily being one of the highlights of the year so far and I can’t imagine this not being considered one of the coins of 2017 when the year is over.”: AgAuNews

“Some coins are much better than others and standout because of their superb designs and overall quality.”: Modern Coin Forum

“It’s pretty amazing.”: Silver Slacker/YouTube

“Best Looking Coin I Have Ever Seen?”: Silver Slacker/YouTube

Silverino/YouTube