Puppetrider/Triskele Tetradrachms

[cavaros]

Celtic puppetrider/triskele tetradrachms:


http://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/puppetriders/

[Figleaf]

Very interesting once again. Fun to see how rivers served as conduit for the distribution of these coins. Your "epicentres" suggest fixed settlements. The Celtic coins you show and have shown don't seem to refer to the area where they were struck, though. At best, you get a reference to a ruler, but not a geographic reference. An odd contradiction.

However, maybe the triskele on this coin is a geographic reference. It seems to be pretty vital to the total design. Could the triskele be the confluence of two rivers, in the process of developing into a symbol?

Peter

[cavaros]

Hi,

The triskele is one of the most common symbols on Celtic art during the Iron Age, found on thousands of coins and other artifacts across Europe. It appears to be one of their core religious symbols. Loads more examples here:

http://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/the-triskele-golden-ratio/

Brendan

[Figleaf]

Indeed. Yet another page I enjoyed.

I note that the coins in question are among the oldest to use the symbol, though. As a symbol, it has to come from somewhere and I doubt it was invented one day at the snap of two fingers. The idea must have grown upon people and what better way to communicate an idea than a coin? Here we have a successful coin with a symbol that is neither decoration only nor random (or we would have found very similar coins with other symbols also). It means something. And then it becomes a much used Celtic symbol...

Peter

[mitresh]

.......and then we have the triskele here dating to 600-400 BC, remarkable!

[cavaros]

Indeed. The triskele is by no means limited to the Celts, and the symbol predates this culture by thousands of years. For example, we see it at Newgrange in Ireland which dates to circa 3,200 BC. As far as it's meaning is concerned, the only thing I can add is that we see it remarkably frequently on defensive weapons like helmets and chainmail, suggesting that the Iron Age Celtic population believed that it had protective properties:

https://www.academia.edu/5463297/The_Power_of_3_-_Some_Observations_On_Eastern_Celtic_Helmets

[Figleaf]

Fun. If the triskele is a symbol of protection of the sun god, it would make great sense if the rider on the coin would be a sun god worshipper. That way, the message would be X enjoys the protection of the sun god. So, if X were a tribal chief (they tend to ride horses), the symbolism says: don't mess with us, the sun god is on our side. A similar symbolic messaging is met on Roman coins and abundant in Hellenistic coins of central Asia, especially of rulers feeling uncomfortable with the neighbours. If X were the sun god (is he often pictured on a horse?), the symbolism is "we worship the sun god".

Yet another option is that the sun god is the leader's favourite (compare this thread, so that the puppet rider could be either the leader or the god.

Peter

[cavaros]

"the puppet rider could be either the leader or the god".  Compare this series, from the same area and the same period, where the leader/chieftain gradually becomes the God ... 


http://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/the-boxer-who-became-a-god/