In ancient times, various cities chose symbols for their coinage that represented the founding mythology, a pun on the city’s name, a characteristic feature of the economy or the city’s devotion to a particular deity. One such figure was Pan, the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks. Often associated with fertility and depicted in bestial form. Originally worshipped in Arcadia, his name derives from paon, meaning pasturer, and with pan, meaning all. Another example is Ephesos, an ancient Greek city located on the western coast of present-day Turkey. Ephesos was a significant centre of worship for the Greek goddess Artemis. The motifs on the city’s coins, such as the bee, reflect this fact clearly. Lastly, Naxos, the earliest Greek colony in Sicily, located south of present-day Taormina. It is of high probability Greek immigrants brought their fondness for wine growing and worship of the god Dionysos from their Greek homeland, the island of Naxos, to Italy.
