A Gaulish coin with a lyre

A very interesting Gaulish coin indeed...

Obverse: Unidentified diademed head, but I can bet this is Apollo (as Maponos, his Gaulish clone), as this is exactly how Apollo was depicted on Macedonian (solar horse) coins which were originally copied by the Celts...

That this is indeed Apollo/Maponos is confirmed by what is depicted on the reverse of the coin: a (solar) horse with the sun above its back, and a (solar) lyre, favorite instrument of Apollo/Maponos, under its belly...

Here is English equivalent:

A Celtic coin from Sussex, minted by the Atrebates and Regini tribes, 55-45 BC.   

Obverse: Unidentified diademed head, but I can bet this is Apollo...

Reverse: A (solar) horse with the (solar) wheel above its back, and a (solar) lyre under its belly...

Horse (equid) is one of the most common solar symbols found all over Eurasia since Bronze Age...This is because horse (equid) fertility and their mating season, which is marked by wild stallion fights, is governed by the sunlight. It starts in Apr/May, peaks on summer solstice, and ends in Sep/Oct...

This is why horse (actually equid in general) was the preffered ride of the sun gods (and kings who worshiped them) from Mesopotamia onwards...

I talked about Horse (Equid) as a solar symbol in many of my posts: 

Iran "Water carrier equid", "Dioscuri plate from Iran"

Mesopotamia "Shamash playing with the solar horse", "Sun god from Tell Brak", "7 heads"

India "Hayagriva"

China "Longma", "Three legged crow", "Mythical beast from Xian"

Levant "Alexamenos graffito", "Goddess on a horse", "Unicorn", "Sun god from the first temple"

Europe "Archaic rider", "Beotian solar pyxis", "Pegasus and chimera", "King John", "White stag" "The horseman", "Artemis Orthia", "Curlew", "Poseidon pursuing Demeter"...

Anatolia "Cilician Nergal"

Another celtic coin, from Eastern Europe, Hungary, this time with the sun depicted as solar rider. With the sun god Apollo depicted on the other side...

Now on the Gaulish coin, the (solar) horse is depicted prancing above the waves...

This scene is actually a complex calendar marker for the sailing season in Gaul, Apr/May - Sep/Oct...

In Roman times, the official and safe sailing season (mare apertum) along the French coast ran from Apr/May to Sep/Oct...I talk about Roman sailing season in my post "Swallow tattoo"...

Which overlaps with the horse mating season...

This is also the reason why horse was the sacred animal of Poseidon (Greek) and Yamm (Phoenician) sea gods. 

Horse mating season overlaps with the sailing season in Eastern Mediterranean too. I talked about this in my posts "Trojan horse", "Three sacrifices"...

BTW, the lyre of Apollo is also a calendar marker. 

The lyre was made by Apollo's younger brother Hermes, who later swapped it with Apollo of caduceus...  

And interestingly, every single plant and animal that features prominently in Hermes's mythology is a calendar marker for Apr/May...Beginning of the sailing season...  

I talk about Hermes in these articles... 

Oh yeah, did I mention that Hermes was patron of commerce, and because most commerce was conducted by boat, by extension seafaring...

Hermes features prominently in Celtic mythology together with Apollo...Sometimes two are actually merged into a single Celtic equivalent...

I talk about this in my post "Pillar of the boatmen" in which I give symbolic analysis of the second row of the 1st c. AD Roman monument known as the "Pillar of the Boatmen" found in Paris, France...

Diodorus Siculus, citing Timaeus of Tauromenium, who lived in 4th-3rd century BC says: "The Celts dwelling along the Ocean have a particular veneration for the Dioscuri; according to one of their ancient traditions, these gods arrived by way of the Ocean"...

The sailing season in Gaul started when horses started mating, in Apr/May and peaked when horses mating season peaked, on Summer Solstice...

I think this is why Dioskuri mark Summer Solstice, and that this is why they were venerated by maritime Celts...

I talked about the (horse) twins marking Summer Solstice in different cultures in my post "Little horses"...

I also think this specific type of gold stater, made in 2nd-1st c. BC by Celtic tribes in Gaul, actually depicts "Sailing season" through depiction of Poseidon (as one of his Celtic clones), in a chariot pulled by a solar horse, depicted above a seahorse...

BTW, I find it really neat that horses and sea horses, which are both linked with sea gods in the Eastern Mediterranean, have the same breeding season, Apr/May - Sep/Oct, which is also the sailing season in the Eastern Mediterranean. Where all these animal calendar markers originate...I talk about seahorses in my post "Seahorse ring"...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...