BANKNOTE GREECE 1000 DRACHMAI 1970 ~ ZEUS THE FATHER OF GODS AND MEN

Zeus is known in Greek Religion as “the father of Gods” and “the leader of Gods”. He is the youngest son of Titan King Cronus and his wife, Rhea. According to  history, as soon  Zeus was born Cronus demanded to swallow him just like he did for Zeus’s brothers and sisters, namely  Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia and Hades. However, Rhea made a plan with Gaea (the goddess of Earth), fed Cronus rocks wrapped in some clothes making him think he actually swallowed Zeus and managed to hide Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida.

CYPRUS 20 POUNDS 2004 ~~ GODDESS APHRODITE

APHRODITE is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation. She was depicted as a beautiful woman often accompanied by the winged godling Eros (Love). Her attributes included a dove, apple, scallop shell and mirror. In classical sculpture and fresco she was usually depicted nude.

Egypt Banknote 5 Piastre 1942 ~ God Hermes

Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per l'Egitto

 Italian occupation 

Hermes is an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia. He is second youngest of the Olympian gods. Hermes is a god of transitions and boundaries. He is quick and cunning, and moved freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine, as emissary and messenger of the gods, intercessor between mortals and the divine, and conductor of souls into the afterlife. He is protector and patron of travelers, herdsmen, thieves, orators and wit, literature and poets, athletics and sports, invention and trade. His attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster and the tortoise, purse or pouch, winged sandals, winged cap, and his main symbol is the herald's staff, the Greek kerykeion or Latin caduceus which consisted of two snakes wrapped around a winged staff. In the Roman adaptation of the Greek pantheon, Hermes is identified with the Roman god Mercury, who, though inherited from the Etruscans, developed many similar characteristics, such as being the patron of commerce.

ANCIENT COINS DEPICTING GREEK GOD DIONYSOS

Dionysus- or Dionysos as he is known in the Greek language- was one of the most interesting sons of Zeus. Known as the God who was born three times- by Persephone, Semele and eventually his own father's thigh (!), Dionysus isn' t only the happy and carefree God of wine. The Dionysian Mysteries were among the most revered in Ancient Greece, as the young God was considered the One who helped the souls of the mortals ascend to  perfection and return to their Divine Source. Dionysus was worshipped throughout the ancient world.

ALGERIA TUNISIA 5000 FRANCS 1950 ~ THE TRIUMPH OF BACCHUS (DIONYSOS)

ALGERIA TUNISIA 1000 FRANCS 1950 POSEIDON Neptune

 POSEIDON is the Olympian god of the sea, earthquakes, floods, drought and horses.
He was depicted as a mature man with a sturdy build and dark beard holding a trident (a three-pronged fisherman's spear).

At birth Poseidon was swallowed whole by his father Kronos (Cronus), but Zeus later enlisted the aid of the goddess Metis who fed the Titan a magical elixir causing him to disgorge the god.

During the War of the Titanes, the Kyklopes (Cyclopes) crafted a magical trident for Poseidon, and together with his brothers Zeus and Haides he defeated the elder gods and imprisoned them in Tartaros.

Poseidon and his brothers drew lots for the division of the cosmos after the fall of the Titanes, and won the sea as his domain.

When the Gigantes (Giants) besieged the gods of Olympos, Poseidon crushed Polybotes beneath the island of Kos (Cos)
More http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Poseidon.html

TUNISIA 500 FRANCS 1952 ~ WINGED VICTORY

The Winged Goddess Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace,[2] is a marble Hellenistic sculpture of Nike (the Greek goddess of victory), that was created about the 2nd century BC. Since 1884, it has been prominently displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world. H.W. Janson described it as "the greatest masterpiece of Hellenistic sculpture",[1] and it is one of a small number of major Hellenistic statues surviving in the original, rather than Roman copies.
More http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/winged-victory-samothrace

TUNISIA 100 FRANCS 1946 GOD HERMES (Mercure) BANKNOTE

Hermes (Roman name: Mercury) is the  Greek god of trade, wealth, luck, fertility, animal husbandry, sleep, language, thieves, and travel. One of the cleverest and most mischievous of the Olympian gods, he was also their herald and messenger.               

With origins as an Arcadian fertility god, the ancient Greeks believed he was the son of Zeus and Maia (daughter of the Titan Atlas). In mythology, Hermes was also the father of the pastoral god Pan and Eudoros (with Polymele), one of the leaders of the Myrmidons
Noted for his impish character and constant search for amusement, Hermes was one of the more colourful gods in Greek mythology. While still a baby he stole his half-brother Apollo’s sacred herd of cattle, cleverly reversing their hooves to make it difficult to follow their tracks. Hermes therefore became associated with thieves and he kept the stolen herd in return for giving Apollo his lyre.
More https://www.ancient.eu/Hermes/

FRENCH ALGERIA ~ TUNISIA 5000 FRANCS 1953 BANKNOTE ~ PYTHIAN APOLLO

 The son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis. Apollo was the god of music (principally the lyre, and he directed the choir of the Muses) and also of prophecy, colonization, medicine, archery (but not for war or hunting), poetry, dance, intellectual inquiry and the carer of herds and flocks. He was also a god of light, known as "Phoebus" (radiant or beaming, and he was sometimes identified with Helios the sun god). He was also the god of plague and was worshiped as Smintheus (from sminthos, rat) and as Parnopius (from parnops, grasshopper) and was known as the destroyer of rats and locust, and according to Homer's Iliad, Apollo shot arrows of plague into the Greek camp. Apollo being the god of religious healing would give those guilty of murder and other immoral deeds a ritual purification. Sacred to Apollo are the swan (one legend says that Apollo flew on the back of a swan to the land of the Hyperboreans, he would spend the winter months among them), the wolf and the dolphin. His attributes are the bow and arrows, on his head a laurel crown, and the cithara (or lyre) and plectrum. But his most famous attribute is the tripod, the symbol of his prophetic powers.

When the goddesss Hera, the wife of Zeus (it was he who had coupled with Leto) found out about Leto's pregnancy, she was outraged with jealousy. Seeking revenge Hera forced Leto to roam the earth in search of a place to give birth. Sicne Hera had forbidden Leto to stay anywhere on earth, either on terra-ferma or an island at sea, the only place to seek shelter was Delos, being in the center of the Aegean, and also difficult to reach, as there were strong under-currents, because it was said to be a floating island. Because it was a floating island, it was not considered either of Hera's prohibitions, and so Leto was able to give birth to the divine twins Apollo and Artemis (before Leto gave birth to Apollo, the island was encircled by a flock of swans, this is why the swan was sacred to him). As a gesture of thanks Delos was secured to the sea-bed by four columns to give it stability, and from then on it became one of the most important sanctuaries to Apollo. (A variation of Apollo's birth was that the jealous Hera had incarcerated Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, but the other gods intervened forcing Hera to release Ilithyia, which allowed Leto to give birth ).

Apollo's first achievement was to rid Pytho (Delphi) of the serpent (or dragon) Python. This monstrous beast protected the sanctuary of Pytho from its lair beside the Castalian Spring. There it stood guard while the "Sibyl" gave out her prophecies as she inhaled the trance inducing vapors from an open chasm. Apollo killed Python with his bow and arrows (Homer wrote "he killed the fearsome dragon Python, piercing it with his darts"). Apollo not only took charge of the oracle but rid the neighboring countryside of widespread destruction, as Python had destroyed crops, sacked villages and polluted streams and springs. However, to make amends for killing Python, as the fearsome beast was the son of Gaia, Apollo had to serve king Admetus for nine years (in some versions eight) as a cowherd. This he did, and when he returned to Pytho he came in the guise of a dolphin bringing with him priests from Crete (Apollo's cult title "Delphinios" meaning dolphin or porpoise, is probably how Delphi was so named). After killing Python and taking possession of the oracle, the god of light (Phobus) became known as "Pythian Apollo". He dedicated a bronze tripod to the sanctuary and bestowed divine powers on one of the priestesses, and she became known as the "Pythia". It was she who inhaled the hallucinating vapors from the fissure in the temple floor, while she sat on a tripod chewing laurel leaves. After she mumbled her answer, a male priest would translate it for the supplicant. Delphi became the most important oracle center of Apollo, there were several including Clarus and Branchidae.

Apollo, as with Zeus his father, had many love affairs with goddesses and mortals. Apollo's infatuation for the nymph Daphne, which had been invoked by the young god of love Eros, because Apollo had mocked him, saying his archery skills were pathetic, and Apollo's singing had also irritated him. Daphne was the beautiful daughter of the river god Ladon, and she was constantly pursued by Apollo. To escape from Apollo's insistent behavior, she fled to the mountains, but the persistent Apollo followed her. Annoyed by this, she asked the river god Peneus for help, which he did. As soon as Apollo approached Daphne, he tried to embrace her, but when he stretched out his arms she transformed into a laurel tree. Apollo, distraught by what had happened, made the laurel his sacred tree. Apollo also loved Cyrene, she was another nymph, and she bore Apollo a son: Aristaeus, a demi-god, who became a protector of cattle and fruit trees, and a deity of hunting, husbandry and bee-keeping. He taught men dairy skills and the use of nets and traps in hunting.
More ~ http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html

1000 francs France 1942-1944 Goddess Demeter and God Hermes

 Goddess  Demeter  with God Mercury (Hermes) as child
Demeter is  the goddess of corn, grain, and the harvest. She was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea. It was believed that Demeter made the crops grow each year; thus the first loaf of bread made from the annual harvest was offered to her. She was the goddess of the earth, of agriculture, and of fertility in general. Sacred to her are livestock and agricultural products, poppy, narcissus and the crane.

Demeter was intimately associated with the seasons. Her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades to be his wife in the underworld. In her anger at her daughter's loss, Demeter laid a curse on the world that caused plants to wither and die, and the land to become desolate. Zeus, alarmed for the barren earth, sought for Persephone's return. However, because she had eaten while in the underworld, Hades had a claim on her. Therefore, it was decreed that Persephone would spend four months each year in the underworld. During these months Demeter would grieve for her daughter's absence, withdrawing her gifts from the world, creating winter. Her return brought the spring.

Demeter was also known for founding the Eleusinian Mysteries. These were huge festivals held every five years and very important events for many centuries. Yet, little is known about them as those attending were sworn to secrecy. It is thought that the central tenet around which the Mysteries revolved was that just like grain returns every spring after its harvest and the winter lull, so does the human soul after the death of the body, reincarnated in a next life.

 God Hermes 
Hermes is the Greek god of commerce, son of Zeus and Maia. Quick acting and cunning, he was able to move swiftly between the world of man and the world of gods, acting as a messenger of the gods and the link between mortals and the Olympians.