Trihemiobol from Thasos (Thrace)

This very small coin of just 13 mm in diameter shows in amazing detail a running satyr on the obverse and a vessel with volute handles on the reverse. This tiny silver coin was minted on the Thracian island of Thasos, which was famous for its wine in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. The vessel in the satyr’s hand is a drinking cup, a kantharos, which he holds by its foot and seems to present or serve, even though this hybrid creature from the circle of the god Dionysus was usually the one who himself drained the wine goblet. This ridiculous and ugly, but also funny and fun-loving figure, here depicted with a horse's tail and a goat's horn, symbolizes drunkenness and its effects.

Obverse: Satyr running left, holding kantharos in his right hand. Reverse: ΘAΣIΩN (Thasion). Volute crater.