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Pherae was one of the oldest cities of Thessaly situated in the region of Pelasgiotis. It's fame stretched back to the age of myth, when Herakles aided Admetos, the king of Pherai in rescuing his wife Alcestis from Hades.
In a selfless act of love, Alcestis had volunteered to take the place of Admetos in death in order that her husband might live forever. Herakles, seeing what a grievous blow the loss of his wife was to Admetos and desiring to repay the past hospitality of the king of Pherai, undertook the dangerous journey to return Alcestis from the Underworld.
In the fifth century BC Pherai was often allied with Athens, but as the Peloponnesian War drew to a close the government of the city was seized by a certain Lykophron, who established himself as tyrant and embarked on a series of struggles with Larissa for dominance in Thessaly. His successor, Jason of Pherai, was powerful enough to influence the peace settlement between Thebes and Sparta following the Battle of Leuktra and his mercenary army was poised to exert Thessalian hegemony over all of mainland Greece when Jason was assassinated.
The tyrants who followed lacked the gifts and vision of Jason, and Pherai, with the rest of Thessaly, ultimately fell under the domination of Philip II of Macedon. Although this stater was struck after the end of the great tyrants of Pherai and Thessalian independence, its types represent traditional deities of the city. The obverse depicts Ennodia, a specifically Pheraian deity. Ennodia, whose name literally means by the roadside was a terrifying goddess of the roadside and the dead, whose power was regularly invoked by witches and necromancers. The cult of Ennodia spread throughout Thessaly under Jason of Pherae [ Jason of Pherae was the ruler of Thessaly during the period just before Philip II of Macedon came to power ] until she was recognized as a national Thessalian deity as much as a local Pheraian one.
In a selfless act of love, Alcestis had volunteered to take the place of Admetos in death in order that her husband might live forever. Herakles, seeing what a grievous blow the loss of his wife was to Admetos and desiring to repay the past hospitality of the king of Pherai, undertook the dangerous journey to return Alcestis from the Underworld.
In the fifth century BC Pherai was often allied with Athens, but as the Peloponnesian War drew to a close the government of the city was seized by a certain Lykophron, who established himself as tyrant and embarked on a series of struggles with Larissa for dominance in Thessaly. His successor, Jason of Pherai, was powerful enough to influence the peace settlement between Thebes and Sparta following the Battle of Leuktra and his mercenary army was poised to exert Thessalian hegemony over all of mainland Greece when Jason was assassinated.
The tyrants who followed lacked the gifts and vision of Jason, and Pherai, with the rest of Thessaly, ultimately fell under the domination of Philip II of Macedon. Although this stater was struck after the end of the great tyrants of Pherai and Thessalian independence, its types represent traditional deities of the city. The obverse depicts Ennodia, a specifically Pheraian deity. Ennodia, whose name literally means by the roadside was a terrifying goddess of the roadside and the dead, whose power was regularly invoked by witches and necromancers. The cult of Ennodia spread throughout Thessaly under Jason of Pherae [ Jason of Pherae was the ruler of Thessaly during the period just before Philip II of Macedon came to power ] until she was recognized as a national Thessalian deity as much as a local Pheraian one.