Rams, sheep and goats on coins

[Figleaf]

In European culture, the goat is central in the Amalthea myth. Significantly, the name may apply to a woman employing a goat to keep Zeus alive or to the goat itself. This may be a deeply underlying reason why an American mother is bound to refer to her children as kids. It also explains why the word for a female goat in English, nanny, is now best known for a female child caretaker. The image of the goat is centred on kindness.

The male has a totally different image. Its horns, goatee (!), hairy skin, split hoof and bad odour were all considered as diabolical attributes, reminiscent of Pan, the bad guy in the Greek pantheon. A buck's sound is called tragos in ancient Greek - hence tragedy, where lost souls wail. At least you can blame the buck for your own failures, making him a scapegoat.

The goat of the Chinese zodiac is also about kindness as well as other traits that fit in well with Greek mythology: selflessness and filial pity, so absent in Zeus. However another tale takes the goat further. Xiè Zhì (獬豸) is a mythological one-horned goat. It was the assistant of Gāo Yáo (皋陶), god of Justice. For the Chinese, that makes the goat organised, able to consider all aspects and understand other's point of view before deciding.

The bucks and nannies in this thread have escaped from their past image, positive or negative. They just stand there and chew.

Peter

[<k>]

Barbados, $50, 1981.  Silver.

Black belly sheep.

Collector coin.  FAO-themed issue.

[<k>]

Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, 50 korun, 1991.

A chamois and a scene from the Czech spa city of Karlovy Vary.