An optical illusion is a representation that leads us to perceive reality in various ways, such as the famous Rubin’s Vase , which can be interpreted as a glass or as two faces facing each other. It is a little known fact that there are ancient coins with representations destined to produce that effect of optical illusion in the observer. Among them, some of the most interesting are the Lesbos estates.
The island of Lesbos is one of the most important in the Aegean Sea and was, already in archaic times, one of the centers where Greek culture flourished. The island is famous today, above all, for having been the cradle of the famous poet Sappho (approx. 650 – 580 BC), but it was a region of great importance in the ancient world, home to important cities such as Mytilene and Metimna . Due to its proximity to the coast of Asia Minor, Lesbos was highly influenced by Lydia, being one of the first Greek regions through which the use of the currency spread.
Lesbos – fleece mat 11.08 gr. (approx 500-450 BC)
Among the first coins minted on the island are a series of fleece estates (a very low-grade silver) and fractional pieces whose mint has not been identified but appear to have circulated throughout the island in the second half of the 6th century BC. and the first one from V BC On its back they present, as usual in this type of archaic pieces, an incised square. But what is striking is its obverse, which has as its motif the heads of two animals facing each other in profile, in such a way that both together seem to represent that of a single animal seen from the front. In some pieces they are wild boars, in other lions or calves, but always represented to generate in the observer the ambiguity regarding whether it is a single animal portrayed frontally or if they are two in profile, as can be seen in the images that accompany this entry. .
I have not found indications in the bibliography about the possible meaning of this peculiar reason, but I dare to propose a hypothesis. The optical illusion was a way of indicating that the minting was the work of two cities that had come together to carry out this task, probably Mytilene and Metimna.
