v34_0177 - CRETA - GORTINA Drachme

CRETE - GORTYNA

(2nd - 1st century BC)

Gortyn, the second city of Crete, is in the center of the fertile Mesara plain. Its coinage begins around 450 BC. It alludes to the abduction of Europa by Zeus, transformed in this case into a bull to escape the jealousy of Hera and conquer the nymph of which he had, among other , Minos. After a brilliant period of economic development in the 4th and 3rd centuries, the island of Crete fell under Lagide influence. Economic stake for two centuries in the Eastern Mediterranean, victim of acts of piracy, after a long period of political decadence, Gortyne was taken by the Romans during the invasion of Crete in 67-66 BC.