PAPHLAGONIA. Amastris. Pseudo-autonomous issue. AE (Bronze, 24 mm, 9.69 g, 7 h), 2nd century AD. OMH-POC Draped bust of Homer to right, wearing taenia and long beard. Rev. ΑΜΑϹΤ-ΡΙΑΝ-ΩΝ / ΠΑΡΘΕΝΙΟϹ The river-god Parthenios reclining to left, holding olive-branch in his right hand and cornucopiae in his left arm, leaning left on urn from which water flows. RPC IV.1 online 4907 = SNG Paris 49 (but differing style). Cf. SNG Paris 50 (same obverse die, but with Meles reverse). Extremely rare and unusually well preserved. A wonderful Homeric type in unusually fine condition with a lovely green patina. Minor delamination on the edge, otherwise, very fine.



As Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, was regarded as the greatest poet of Antiquity, many cities vied for the honor of being considered his birthplace, including Chios, Kolophon, Kyme, and Smyrna. Amastris, located on the shores of the Black Sea, was not typically counted among these 'Homeric cities,' but some traditions held that it was a colony of Smyrna, thereby forging a link with the poet (see Leu 13, 27 May 2023, 122 for the connection between Homer and Smyrna). The most direct evidence of Amastris’ claim to Homeric fame is found in its coins, which depict Homer on the obverse paired with a variety of reverse designs.

Among the coin types, two feature different river gods: one depicts Meles, while the other, as seen in the present specimen, shows the river god Parthenios. The river Meles flowed through Smyrna and, according to a local Smyrnaean legend - one of many competing tales regarding Homer’s origins - was believed to be the great poet’s mythical father, earning him the legendary name Melesigenes. Parthenios, on the other hand, was a river in Paphlagonia that flowed into the sea, as Homer himself recounts:

The Paphlagonians came from Eneti, where the mules are bred, and they inhabited the land around the river Parthenios. (Iliad 2.853)

The mention of Parthenios in the Iliad emphasizes the mythological significance of the river in the context of the Trojan War and the ancient geography of the Black Sea region. It served as a point of reference for Homer’s audience, linking the land of Paphlagonia to the broader epic landscape of the Iliad. By featuring Parthenios on its coins, Amastris could invoke this mythological connection, aligning itself with the heroic narratives of the epic and asserting its place within the legendary world that Homer created.

As a Hellenistic foundation - Amastris was established around 300 BC by Queen Amastris of Herakleia Pontika as her eponymous polis - the citizens of Amastris could not boast an ancient history compared to some of their rivals. This made it all the more important for them to assert their cultural prominence within the competitive numismatic landscape of Roman provincial coinage by referencing the archaic Hellenic past. And who better to serve this purpose than Homer, the greatest of all poets and a foundational figure in Greek cultural identity?

The Meles and Parthenios coins bearing Homer’s portrait from Amastris are thus a reflection of the agonistic rivalry among Greek elites in the Roman Empire. Educated viewers would recognize through these coins the city’s connection to the mythological world of the Iliad. While Amastris could not, for historical reasons, claim to be Homer’s birthplace, the city ingeniously constructed a direct link to the legendary bard through the association of the local river Parthenios, mentioned in the Iliad, with Smyrna’s Meles - considered Homer’s mythical father in a local Smyrnaean tradition. In doing so, Amastris elegantly crafted a narrative of a much older, more illustrious past for itself.