Nysa (AD 117-138) Tetradrachm - Hadrian

Hadrian, 117-138 AD. AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm (36mm, 10.13g). HADRIANVS - AVGVSTVS P P., head right / COS - III. Hades with scepter, holding stolen Persephone, protecting from her from the wind with mantle, driving quadriga of halloping horses, basket of flowers below. Fine toning, aEF. Extremely rare, possibly unique. From the von Aulock collection and Bank Leu AG, Auktion 30 (4/1982, Zurich), lot 363.

According to Homer, the abduction of Persephone took place somewhere in the "Nysion pedion." It mattered little that Lydian Nysa was a forth century foundation; a cult of the underworld grew up there. The town had a Plutonium, and in later times a festival called the Theogamia celebrated the abduction itself." (W. E. Metcalf, a. O., p. 50).