|
C. Mamilius Limetanus. 82 BC. AR Serrate Denarius (20mm, 3.92 g, 3h). Rome mint. Draped bust of Mercury right, wearing winged petasus; to left, S above caduceus / Ulysses walking right, holding staff and extending hand toward his dog, Argus. Crawford 362/1; Sydenham 741; Mamilia 6; RBW 1370 var. (control). Lightly toned, minor marks, slight weakness on reverse. Near EF.
From the G. Savonarola Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 78 (14 May 2008), lot 1602; Freeman & Sear 13 (25 August 2006), lot 337.
The obverse and reverse of this coin refer to the lineage of the gens Mamilia, who claimed their descent from Mamilia, the daughter of Telegonus, the son of Ulysses and Circe, and a descendant of Mercury. The reverse scene depicts the moment when, returning home from his long wanderings in the guise of a beggar so as to surprise and kill the many suitors of his wife Penelope, Ulysses' aged dog Argus recognizes him:
Soon as he perceived
Long-lost Ulysses nigh, down fell his ears
Clapped close, and with his tail glad sign he gave
Of gratulation, impotent to rise,
And to approach his master as of old.
Ulysses, noting him, wiped off a tear
Unmarked.
. . . Then his destiny released
Old Argus, soon as he had lived to see
Ulysses in the twentieth year restored. (Hom. Od. 17.290 [Cowper's translation]).
At last, seeing his master after so many years, the old dog dies.
The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 129 lots will be determined during the live online sale that will be held on 13-14 May 2025. This lot is in Session Two, which will begin 13 May at 2 PM ET.
Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.
We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.
|
