Dear Friends of ancient mythology! One of the famous deeds of Heracles was the fight with Antaios. The Coin: Cilicia, Tarsos, Philip I, AD 244-249 AE 37, 19.96g, 225° obv. AVT KAI IOV ΦIΛIΠΠON [EVT] EVC CE in l. and r. field Π - Π Bust, draped and cuirassed, radiate, r. rev. TAPCOV THC MHTP[OΠ]OΛEΩC in l. field B, in r. field one below the other A / M / K / Γ Herakles stg. facing, head l., leaning l., wrestling Antaios; he lifts Antaios up by the waist while Antaios tries to break his grip ref. SNG Levante 1153 (same dies); Hunter S.556, 59, pl. LX, 18 (rev. same die); Voegtli 17h good F, usual roughness Mythology: Antaios (Lat. Antaeus), son of Poseidon and Gaia, was a huge giant, who is said to have a length of 60 Greek cubits. He was king and ruler of Libya and forced all strangers who entered his empire to wrestle with him. Beause of his immense force it was easy for him to strangle all combattants. Their skulls he used to built a temple for his father Poseidon. He for himself lived in a gruesome cave under a big rock in which he slept on the bare ground because he got stronger and stronger by the power he gained from his mother Earth. His usual food were lions wich he catched alive. In doing so his land was stripped by people because he didn't save the life of his people more than the life of the strangers. Otherwise he should be the founder of the city of Tingis. When Herakles was on the way to capture the cattle of Geryon for Euristheus he came to Libya and came into conflict with Antaios. Both dropped their lion's skins which they wore, Herakles applied oil to his skin as the Greek did, Antaios threw sand over his body to double his strength. Then the fight began. Both were astonished about the strength of his combattant. But Antaios tired first and Herakles could threw him to the ground. But touching the earth Antaios recovered again and the fight moved on. Exhausted again Antaios dropped to the earth himself to get new power. There Herakles recognized the earth as source of his strength. He embraced him and lifted him up into the air and struggled him to death. It is said that he was borrowed in Tingis. It is told that Sertorius has opened his grave and has found bones 60 cubits long. Horrified he sarificed and then closed the grave again. It had the shape of a laying man and it is told that everytime someone took earth from it raining starts and didn't stop earlier before this earth is put to the grave again. Note: Quintus Sertorius (* 123 B.C. probably in Nursia; † 72 B.C.) was a Roman politician and commander. He founded a special empire in Spain against Sulla and was finally defeated by Pompeius Magnus. Background: Originally Antaios, referring to his name (meaning 'encounter'), was a spook, a ghost, compare 'Antaia', a spook from the circle around Hekate, finally Hekate herself. Naturally the spook wants to return to its habitation, the earth; not earlier than in hellenistic time it was changed into the symbolical streams of power of the earth. The oldest trace of the myth points to Irasa near Kyrene; there Antaios forced the suitors of his daughter Barke on a footrace, a motive known from other myths too. During the continuing discovery of North-Africa the Greek colonists pushed this legendary figure always farther to the West until it got a definite place in Tingis (Mauretania). At the same time in connection with the growing antagonism between Greeks and Libyans it got a pronounced evil character. As shown on vase paintings of the 5th century BC (e.g. the crater of Euphronios in the Louvre) the fight between Herakles and Antaios was interpreted as triumph of the scholastic Greek athletics over the barbarian power of nature. In Hellenistic time Antaios was identified with an Upper-Egyptian god and the city of Antaiupolis was named according to him. His tomb was worshipped in Tingis. The future ruler of Mauretania led back their origin to Sophax, son of Herakles with the widow of Antaios. I have added two pics. 1) The pic of the famous crater of Euphronios showing the fight between Herakles and Antaios; Attica, c.510 BC, today in the Louvre/Paris. 2) The pic of the oil painting 'Hercules and Antaeus' of Antonio Pollaiuolo, AD 1460, today in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. During the Renaissance this theme was very popular. Sources: (1) Der kleine Pauly (2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon (3) Wikipedia Best regards
Thanks for the writeup! I've always enjoyed this particular Herakles story. The scene on my reverse is the mirror image of yours, with Herakles on the left and Antaios on the right. CARACALLA AE32. 17.91g, 32.3mm. CILICIA, Tarsus, circa AD 198-217. SNG France 1520. O: AVT KAI M AVP CЄVHPOC ANTΩNЄINOC CЄB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right; Π – Π in fields. R: ANTΩNIANHC CЄV MHTP / TAPCOV / A M K Γ Β, Herakles left, lifting Antaios off the ground; club draped with lion skin to left.
