I had no idea that the ancient Greeks built two towns at the Bay of Roses in Spain, contemporary Empuries and Rode (Ρόδη) which doesn't exist today, I think! Empuries comes from the Greek Emporion (Εμπορίον). It means commerce.
Amazingly, the two towns issued their own drachmas! Beauty takes centre stage, as it is usual with Ancient Greek art. The Rode silver drachma had a head of Persephone at the front. So exciting! Persephone is among my favorite Goddesses. You can see the coins in the pics.
I am finding this amazing info in a very old supplement from the Greek Kathimerini (Καθημερινή) newspaper. I used to collect the Sunday Kathimerini supplements, which were full of unique info. This one was about the ancient Greeks in Spain.
The statue in the pic is La Dama de Elche, an ancient Spanish work thought to have influences from the Greek :-)
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