THE ODYSSEY ON ANCIENT COINS

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has brought Homer's ancient world back into popular culture. Yet for coin collectors, Odysseus, Homer, Scylla, the Sirens, and even the hero's faithful dog have never completely disappeared.

They Survive in Metal

The legendary events surrounding the Trojan War belong to the Late Bronze Age. Ancient tradition usually placed the war in the 12th or 13th century BCE. Coinage, however, did not emerge in western Asia Minor until the seventh century BCE. Therefore, centuries separate the supposed age of Odysseus from the first coins.

Homer came later.

Tradition places the poet in or around the eighth century BCE, although scholars still debate when the Iliad and Odyssey reached something close to their surviving form . Scholars also continue to debate whether one poet composed the works, whether several poets contributed, and how writing interacted with a long oral tradition.

Whatever the answer, later Greeks and Romans revered Homer. His poetry became part of their shared cultural inheritance.

Inevitably, Homer and the unforgettable characters of his epics found their way onto coins.

Homer: A Poet Claimed by Many Cities

IONIA. Smyrna. Circa 190-180 BC. Drachm (Silver, 20 mm, 4.19 g, ),. Laureate head of Apollo to right, with two locks of hair falling down his neck. Rev. S??????O? The Poet Homer seated left, holding scroll in his right hand and scepter in his left. BM 1920,1122.1. Of the highest rarity, arguably the finest of a very few known examples. A wonderful coin of magnificent full Hellenistic style, with an exceptional rendering of the most famous ancient poet on the reverse.

Many Greek cities and islands claimed Homer as their own. Ancient traditions connected him with Smyrna, Chios, Cyme, Colophon, Athens, and several other places. Meanwhile, the island of Ios developed a particularly strong tradition that Homer died there .

The rivalry even reached the coinage.

A magnificent silver drachm of Smyrna, today Izmir, Türkiye, dated to circa 190/189-180 BCE, depicts the bare-chested poet seated and holding a scroll. The 20 mm silver coin weighs 4.19 grams.

The obverse bears the laureate head of Apollo, god of poetry and music. Homer dominates the reverse.

Tradition describes Homer as blind. Nevertheless, the engraver gives him a scroll. That apparent contradiction opens another ancient mystery. Scholars still debate how literacy, writing, dictation, and oral performance contributed to the creation and preservation of the Homeric poems. The Odyssey itself certainly belongs to a culture in which oral performance remained fundamental.

Leu Numismatik called this drachm one of the finest known examples and praised its exceptional Hellenistic portrait of the poet. It hammered for CHF 26,000 in 2023, equivalent to more than $28,000 at the time .

For a poet who lived centuries before this coin appeared, Homer had become remarkably marketable civic property.

Another City Lays Claim

AEOLIS. Cyme. Pseudo-autonomous issue. Assarion (Bronze, 20 mm, 5.00 g,), time of Commodus, circa 184-190. OMHPOC Homer seated to right, holding scroll in his left hand and resting his right on seat. Rev. KYM/A/ION within oak wreath. BMC 109-110. RPC IV.2 online 2469. Extremely rare, apparently the fourth known example.

The ancient coastal city of Cyme, near modern Aliaga, Türkiye, made the same claim.

A Roman-era bronze assarion struck during the time of Commodus, circa 184-190 CE, shows Homer seated with a scroll. His name, OMHPOC, identifies him. The reverse places the name of Cyme inside an oak wreath .

The coin measures 20 mm and weighs 5.00 grams.

According to one tradition, Homer married Aresiphone, daughter of Gnotor of Cyme. Whether history or legend, the story strengthened the city's connection with the poet.

Coins offered cities something monuments could not. They traveled.

Every Homer coin that left Cyme carried the city's claim into markets, ports, military camps, and neighboring communities.

To read the complete article, see:
The Odyssey On Ancient Coins (https://coinweek.com/the-odyssey-on-ancient-coins-homers-epic-struck-in-metal/)

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