C MAMILIUS LIMETANUS SILVER DENARIUS – ODYSSEUS & ARGOS ISSUE EX BOB GUYNN COLLECTION – AU ROMAN REPUBLIC COIN (Inv. 19381)

Description

19381. C. MAMILIUS LIMETANUS, 82 BC.
Silver serrate denarius, 3.94 g, 20 mm. Issue of Rome.
Obv. Draped bust of Mercury right, wearing petasus and holding caduceus. Rev. C MAMIL LIMET[AN], Ulysses (Odysseus) greeting his dog Argos who looks up and wags his tail in recognition.
Crawford 362/1; Sydenham 741.
Ex Bob Guynn collection, purchased from Ed Waddell.
NGC graded AU, Strike 4/5, Surface 5/5, glossy steel–gray patination with iridescent highlights.

The reverse type recounts the episode in Homer’s Odyssey 17.290 ff, when a disguised Odysseus, home after the Trojan War, is recognized by his faithful dog Argos:
“[290] Thus they spoke to one another. And a hound that lay there raised his head and pricked up his ears, Argos, the hound of Odysseus, of the steadfast heart…yet even now, when he marked Odysseus standing near, he wagged his tail and dropped both his ears, but nearer to his master he had no longer strength to move. Then Odysseus looked aside and wiped away a tear… [324] So saying, (Odysseus) entered the stately house … But as for Argos, the fate of black death seized him straightway when he had seen Odysseus in the twentieth year…” (Odyssey 17.290 ff in the A.T. Murray translation).