How difficult is it to collect the 12 gods of Olympus

BIGAL2749

I'm been admiring ancients when I seen them posted on the forum and would like to add some with my other coins.

My 12 year grandson is in to the Greek Gods, sometimes it seems he tests me on Olympic trivia so wondering if it's very difficult and expensive to obtain a coin with each of the 12 Gods?

Thanks in advance for suggestions

harasha

I would think that it is very doable.
Check the VCoins website.

STLNATS

I think trying to get exclusively Greek coins could present quite a challenge. But if you're willing to go with the Roman equivalents, it's probably quite doable and not especially expensive in most cases. I'm primarily interested in history/economics, so haven't focused on the Olympians at all. Out of interest I checked my list and found I have 10 of the 12 already represented missing just Vulcan and Pluto (and wasn't even looking for the things). The latter two seem to be much less common than most of the others the others. Interesting theme.



In perusing listings, it appears that many seem to conflate Pluto with Serapis who is occasionally shown with the 3 headed dog Cerberus. Serapis is very available (I have several and now at 11 of the 12). By contrast, listings of Pluto himself seem much rarer.

SmEagle1795

That would be a great collection to build! You may want to shop at ForvmAncientCoins - they have a category which lists out each Olympian already (the website is a bit tough to navigate but you can see the lower links on the left, under "Gods, Olympians") starting here

Good luck!

STLNATS

I was surprised to learn that there is a modicum of disagreement about which gods constitute the 12, primarily whether to include Hades who was on the list I used and who spent his time in the underworld rather than Olympus. Your first task would seem to be deciding who to include. After poking around a bit, I do agree that the list on FAC seems to be a generally accepted list (and has the practical advantage of not including Hades which seems to be a very difficult image to obtain).



What fun!

Sapyx

It does depend in part on how "pure" you want the list to be: whether their Roman-era counterparts "count" or not.



Here's my rating of each deity, roughly.



Zeus: very easy.

Hera: challenging.

Poseidon: easy.

Demeter: average.

Athena: very easy.

Apollo: very easy.

Artemis: very easy.

Ares: average.

Aphrodite: easy.

Hephaestus: challenging.

Hermes: easy.

Hestia: next to impossible. Her Roman equivalent, Vesta, is much easier. Or you may wish to substitute the also much easier Dionysus.

BIGAL2749

Thanks Guys,

With the six responses, each very informative, I feel like I've gotten a good headstart.

Just ordered Ancient Coin Collecting II: Numismatic Art of the Greek World (No. II) by Wayne Sayles. I'm guessing it's just right for a beginner.

I don't mind at all if some are Roman (given choice I'd go Greek), I'd had gotten the impression that Roman coins always had caesars or other leaders

I am surprised that there is disagreement on those that should be on the list. I thought and I'm sure grandson (Jack) would definitely consider Hades and

Dionysus part of the group.

I'm mentioned Olympia but I should have said the major 12 gods and Jack would definitely want Hercules and others that were significant in folklore.

I'm starting to see that we'll end up with a lot more than 12 but we'll have fun.

CIVITAS

The Wayne Sayles book that you ordered (and the series as a whole) is an excellent place to start.

worldcoinguy

Great endeavor. I look forward to seeing progress as you assemble the set.