Description
This coin is an Ancient Greek silver hemidrachm minted circa 170-150 BC in Carian Islands, Rhodes. The obverse depicts the radiate head of Helios facing slightly right. The reverse depicts a rose with bud to right, with the inscription ΑΡΤΕΜΩΝ above, all within incuse square.
Helios, is the god and personification of the Sun, often depicted in art with a radiant crown and driving a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. Though Helios was a relatively minor deity in Classical Greece, his worship grew more prominent in late antiquity thanks to his identification with several major solar divinities of the Roman period, particularly Apollo and Sol.
