Arkadia. Pheneos
350-300 BCE
AE 13.26mm 2.13g
Obverse: Head of Hermes right wearing petasos
Reverse: Φ E, ram standing right, AP monogram before
BCD Peloponnesos 1614.2
Ex BCD Collection Purchased July 1976

The ruins of Pheneos today contain an interesting building called the katavóthra, which has a canal built to go through it. Legend has it the canal was dug out by Herakles, and he became forever associated with the city.

Pausanias mentions that there was also a temple to Hermes in the city, which would explain his image on the obverse of the coin. Due to its position in a value, Pheneos had numerous problems with flooding, and they appear to have never been fully resolved since ancient writers mention devastating floods and by the time Pausanias visited it, Pheneos was already in ruins.

It honestly looks like a very beautiful area and I regret not mapping a plan to photograph the katavóthra.