Athena, Peirene and Pegasi: Myth and Identity in Corinthian Numismatics

The identity of the female heads depicted on several coins produced by Corinth in the period before 146 BC remains a source of debate. Disagreements regarding the identity of the reverse types of the staters, drachms, and hemidrachms have created confusion in recent treatments of this important mint and skewed the iconographic interpretation of other Corinthian fractions. This article demonstrates that the coin types at Corinth are situated in an intentional, cohesive programme designed by the mint, one that depicts features of the Bellerophon myth, a story that included Athena, not Aphrodite, and was a key component of local Corinthian identity. Since some Corinthian colonies copied elements of their metropolis' coin types, the confusion around their representations has implications that reach far beyond Corinth and numismatic studies.