On Sicilian Coins . . .

Images of hares can be found on a wide range of Greek artifacts: on amphorae, bowls, dishes and bronze vessels; on wedding and other rings; necklaces, mirror surrounds, in mural paintings; in the form of zoomorphic scent bottles, and on coins. The motif of eagles, feeding on or carrying off a hare appears on numerous Greek coins. But it also takes place there with many other designs including hares. On Sicilian coins of the fifth century BC there are single, gracefully designed leaping hares; a hare leaping over a dolphin above a wave; a hare over a grasshopper, and another over a fly; a hare over an ear of corn, Nike above; a hare springing over a scallop shell; and another with Pan sitting on a rock. There is also a hare with a dolphin below and a cock above it; a hare springing between a shell and a hippocampus; and a hound standing, head averted, with an inverted hare below. Though the last of these is merely naturalistic, a hunting scene, and though some of the others clearly allude to naturalistic attributes of the creature (chiefly its speed and athleticism, relating it to the dolphin, grasshopper and fly as well as Nike) the presence of the ear of corn also signifies its symbolic association with fertility and increase, just as the presence of Pan alerts us to the association of the hare with the gods and goddesses of the wild and of the chase.

– Simon Carnell

Hare

pp. 59-60