PAPHLAGONIA. Amastris. Pseudo-autonomous issue. Diassarion (Bronze, 21 mm, 6.84 g, 7 h), 2nd century AD. OMH-POC Draped bust of Homer to right, wearing taenia and long beard. Rev. AMACT-PIANΩN Nike standing front, head to left, holding wreath in her right hand and palm frond in her left. BMC 14. RG 42. RPC IV.1 online 4903. SNG Copenhagen 250. SNG Leypold -. SNG Paris 59. SNG von Aulock 159. Very rare, and with a particularly noble rendering of the great poet. Minor smoothing, otherwise, very fine.


As Homer, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, was considered the greatest poet of Antiquity, many cities vied for the privilege of being called his birthplace, such as Chios, Kolophon, Kyme, and Smyrna. Amastris, located on the shore of the Black Sea, was not usually counted among the 'Homeric cities', but some traditions held it to be a colony of Smyrna, hence linking it with the poet (see Leu 13, 27 May 2023, 122 for the connection between Homer and Smyrna). The most direct evidence of Amastris' claims to Homeric fame is offered by its coins, which show the poet on the obverse coupled with a variety of reverse designs. One rare issue shows Meles on the reverse, tutelary deity of the river flowing through Smyrna and mythical father of Homer (who, according to legend, was originally named Melesigenes), seemingly to stress the idea that, while the Meles might flow through its metropolis, Amastris was the poet's definitive birthplace.