INTERNATIONAL DAYS THROUGH THE COLLECTIONS OF THE NUMIC MUSEUM

The United Nations (UN) has established specific days of the year to commemorate and highlight events and themes with the aim of raising awareness and mobilizing the global community. These days are proposed by one or more members and by specialized organizations (UNESCO, UNICEF, FAO, etc) and finally, are ratified by the UN General Assembly.

In this section of posts, the Numismatic Museum presents coins, medals and other objects from its Collections that are thematically linked to International or World Days.

Useful links: https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-days-and-weeks

07/04 – WORLD HEALTH DAY

This first post is made on the occasion of World Health Day which was officially established in 1950 and commemorates the official founding date of the World Health Organization (WHO) on April 7, 1948.

The recent experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has once again prioritized global health and demonstrated the need to address health challenges through international cooperation.

Useful links: https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day

Here we present a silver drachma from Epidaurus that was issued in the mid-3rd century BC and is housed in a display case on the first floor of the Museum. It depicts on the reverse the gold and ivory statue of Asclepius, god of health and medicine, which was crafted by Thrasymedes and was placed in the temple of ancient Epidaurus. The rendering of the statue is in harmony with the description of Pausanias (II, 27.2):

The cult statue of Asclepius in size is half the size of the Olympian Zeus of Athens, made of elephant and gold. An inscription states that the artist is the Parian Thrasymedes, son of Arginotus. The god sits on a throne holding a staff, while his other hand is on the head of a snake; and a dog is also lying beside him… (trans. N.D. Papachatzis).