Hera is the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow, lion and the peacock were considered sacred to her. Hera’s mother is Rhea and her father Cronus.

Portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the polos (a high cylindrical crown worn by several of the Great Goddesses), Hera may bear a pomegranate in her hand, emblem of fertile blood and death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy. Hera had the ability to bless and protect a woman’s marriage, bring her fertility, protect her children, and ensure she was financially secure.

Hera was known for her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeus’ lovers and offspring, but also against mortals who crossed her, such as Pelias. Despite her rage at his infidelities, Hera remained loyal and faithful to her husband, bearing three of his children, Hebe, Ares, and Hephaestos. Paris also earned Hera’s hatred by choosing Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess.

DESIGN: depicts Hera wearing a polos crown, sitting on a throne in the Temple of Hera, holding her lotus staff in her left hand. A lion and a peacock rest beside Hera on either side of the throne. The design includes the inscription HERA, and The Perth Mint’s ‘P’ mintmark.

Athena is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, mathematics, strength, war strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena. Athena is known for her calm temperament, as she moves slowly to anger. She is noted to have only fought for just reasons, and would not fight without a purpose. She was also a companion of many heroes including Odysseus, Jason, and Heracles and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour.

She is the virgin patroness of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens (Athena Parthenos), in her honour. Veneration of Athena was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes. In her role as a protector of the city (polis), many people throughout the Greek world worshipped Athena as Athena Polias. While the city of Athens and the goddess Athena essentially bear the same name (Athena the goddess, Athenai the city), it is not known which of the two words is derived from the other.

DESIGN: depicts Athena next to an olive tree, wearing an aegis and holding a large spear in her left hand, and her shield in her right hand. She is accompanied by a serpent and an owl, with the Parthenon and ancient Athens in the background. The design includes the inscription ATHENA, and The Perth Mint’s ‘P’ mintmark.

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus and she is identified with the planet of the same name. As with many ancient Greek deities, there is more than one story about her origins. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranus’s genitals and threw them into the sea, and she arose from the sea foam (aphros). According to Homer’s Iliad, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. According to Plato (Symposium, 180e), these two origins were of entirely separate entities: Aphrodite Ourania and Aphrodite Pandemos.

Because of her beauty, other gods feared that their rivalry over her would interrupt the peace among them and lead to war, so Zeus married her to Hephaestus, who, because of his ugliness and deformity, was not seen as a threat. Aphrodite had many lovers—both gods, such as Ares, and men, such as Anchises. Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus) after the two cult sites, Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed to be her place of birth. Myrtle, doves, sparrows, horses, and swans were said to be sacred to her. The ancient Greeks identified her with the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor.

DESIGN: depicts Aphrodite sitting on the beach at Aphrodite’s Rock surrounded by scallop shells, holding a mirror in her left hand, with a dove perched on her right hand. She is accompanied by a swan and three dolphins, with the ocean and clouds in the background. The design also includes the inscription APHRODITE, and The Perth Mint’s ‘P’ mintmark.

Freyja is a goddess associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, keeps the boar Hildisvíni by her side, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers (Valshamr), and, by her husband Óðr, is the mother of two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi. Along with her brother Freyr (Old Norse the “Lord”), her father Njörðr, and her mother (Njörðr’s sister, unnamed in sources), she is a member of the Vanir.

Freyja rules over her heavenly afterlife field Fólkvangr and there receives half of those that die in battle, whereas the other half go to the god Odin’s hall, Valhalla. Within Fólkvangr is her hall, Sessrúmnir. Freyja assists other deities by allowing them to use her feathered cloak, is invoked in matters of fertility and love, and is frequently sought after by powerful jötnar who wish to make her their wife. Freyja’s husband, the god Óðr, is frequently absent. She cries tears of red gold for him, and searches for him under assumed names.

DESIGN: depicts Freya with her sword in her left hand and wearing her magical feathered cloak. Also featured in the design is a cat perched on her right shoulder, her golden bristled boar ‘Hildisvini’, a shield, and a battlefield in the background.

Giving her name to the English weekday name Friday (“Frīge’s day”), Frigg is described in nearly all sources as the wife of the god Odin.

Frigg is described as a goddess associated with foreknowledge and wisdom in Norse mythology, the northernmost branch of Germanic mythology and most extensively attested. Frigg is the wife of the major god Odin and dwells in the wetland halls of Fensalir, is famous for her foreknowledge, is associated with the goddesses Fulla, Lofn, Hlín, and Gná, and is ambiguously associated with the Earth, otherwise personified as an apparently separate entity Jörð (Old Norse “Earth”). The children of Frigg and Odin include the gleaming god Baldr.

DESIGN: The reverse of the coin depicts Frigg sitting on Odin’s high seat cradling a newborn baby in one arm and holding a rose quartz pendant in the other. Also featured is a falcon, white candles and woven threads. The inscription FRIGG and The Perth Mint’s traditional ‘P’ mintmark also feature in the design.

In Norse mythology, Hel is a being who presides over a realm of the same name, where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson.

In the Poetic Edda, Prose Edda, and Heimskringla, Hel is referred to as a daughter of Loki, and to “go to Hel” is to die. In the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, Hel is described as having been appointed by the god Odin as ruler of a realm of the same name, located in Niflheim. In the same source, her appearance is described as half blue and half flesh-coloured and further as having a gloomy, downcast appearance. The Prose Edda details that Hel rules over vast mansions with many servants in her underworld realm and plays a key role in the attempted resurrection of the god Baldr.