Greek Phokis Delphi

In 373/2 BC, an earthquake destroyed the great Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Although reconstruction on the site commenced, the Phokian occupation of the sanctuary during the Sacred War of 355-346 BC prevented any full-scale work from occurring. In 338/6 BC, the Amphiktionic League decided to melt down the coinage comprising the temple treasury and mint a new series of coinage that would be used to finance a full reconstruction project. This new series comprised staters, drachms, and hemidrachms, whose types reflected the two sanctuaries controlled by the Amphiktionic League: the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and the Temple of Demeter at Anthela [near Thermopylai].

The obverse of the staters depicts a left-facing head of Demeter, wearing a veil and grain-ear wreath in her traditional guise as the goddess of grain and fertility. On the reverse, Apollo is seated in a contemplative manner on an omphalos, holding a laurel branch and resting his elbow on a kithara. The omphalos, kithara, and laurel branch each recall a significant aspect of Apollo's mythology, with the omphalos signifying his oracular seat at Delphi, the kithara his dominion over music, and the laurel [ἡ δάφνη] his personal badge, the result of his unrequited love for the nymph Daphne.