The Facing Head of Helios - the Greek Sun-God

Sun worshipping is not a recent fad, but rather an ancient tradition. The Greeks and Romans were especially serious about their devotion to their solar deities, which the Greeks named Helios and the Romans named Sol. This coin shows the facing head of Helios with a bird nestled against his cheek. The back shows a rose, which is a punning allusion to the city's name, Rhodes.

Rhodes was a powerful city on an island of the same name, and this coin was struck for the areas on the mainland which were under Rhodian authority - hence the symbolism of the bird nestled against the cheek of Rhodes.

Although the sun-god helios was worshipped throughout the Greek world, he was especially admired at Rhodes, an island off the coast of modern-day Turkey. It was there that a massive statue of the youthful god was constructed in 278 BC. So large and famous was this statue that it wa named the Colossus of Rhodes. At about 280 feet high, it was the tallest statue ever produced in the ancient world, and it is rightfully considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.