Ave!

Gallienus Zoo, Goat reverse, O My! 

Æ Antoninianus; 22mm/2.9gm

Con/ After cleaning and dependent upon your skills; Good Very Fine.

Obv/ GALLIENVS AVG; Radiate bust right.

Rev/ IOVI CONS AVG; Goat standing left.

Seller's Note/ By the way, this is not your ordinary barnyard goat, but rather a Cretan Goat! And she has a name...Amaltheia!

So why a Cretan goat? Well, just in case your not familiar with Greek/Roman mythology, Amaltheia was the she-goat nurse of the god Zeus (Roman Jupiter) who nourished him with milk in a cave on Mount Dikte (Dicte) in Krete (Crete). When the god reached maturity he created his thunder-shield (the aigis) from her hide and the horn of plenty (cornucopia or keras amaltheias) from her horns. According to some Amaltheia was a nymph rather than a goat. Amaltheia was placed amongst the stars as the constellation Capra--the stellar group surrounding Capella on the arm (ôlenê) of the Auriga the Charioteer. The "goat on the arm" no doubt represented the stormy aigis-shield of Zeus which in classical art was sometimes depicted as a tasseled hide slung across his arm. The rising of Capella marked the onset of stormy weather for the Greeks. The word aigis means both "stormy weather" and "goat-skin" in ancient Greek which explains the close connection between the two in myth. There, you just learned something! Ha Ha!