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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Voulgaroktonou, post: 2761228, member: 84047&quot;]Being a dog lover, I find this a very interesting thread! This canine [ATTACH=full]634624[/ATTACH] example from my collection depicts a scene from Homer&#039;s Odyssey, Book XVII, lines 290-327. It&#039;s a serrate denarius of the moneyer C. Mamilius Limetanus from 82 B.C. The obverse depicts a bust of Mercury; the reverse illustrates an overly optimistic allusion to Odysseus being greeted by his dog Argus.</p><p><br /></p><p>The engraver evidently did not know his Homer in creating the exuberant dog who joyfully greets his master on this coin, for the passage is to me one of the most poignant pieces of Classical literature. My heart breaks each time I read it. Odysseus has returned to his home on Ithaka, after being away 20 years following his participation in the Trojan War and after years of wandering to reach his home. He has had to return to his homeland in disguise because in his absence, his palace has been overrun by suitors who are attempting to marry his wife Penelope and usurp his place. To avoid being killed by the suitors, he returns in the appearance of an old beggar. As Odysseus enters his palace accompanied by his old friend Eumaius (who does not recognize him) his faithful dog Argus alone recognizes his master. But the aged dog, once the pride of his hunting pack, has now been abandoned to lie on a manure pile. As Homer puts it:</p><p><br /></p><p>“Thus they spoke to one another. And a dog that lay there raised his head and pricked up his ears, Argus, steadfast Odysseus’ dog, whom of old he had himself bred, but had no joy of him, for before that he went to sacred Ilium. In days past the young men were accustomed to take the dog to hunt the wild goats, and deer, and hares; but now he lay neglected, his master gone, in the deep dung of mules and cattle, which lay in heaps before the doors, till the slaves of Odysseus should take it away to manure his wide lands. There lay the dog Argus, full of dog ticks. But now, when he became aware that Odysseus was near, he wagged his tail and dropped both ears, but nearer to his master he had no longer strength to move. Then Odysseus looked aside and wiped away a tear, easily hiding from Eumaeus what he did.” After expending the last of his strength to greet his master, Argus died.</p><p><br /></p><p>But perhaps far from NOT knowing his Homer, possibly the designer of the reverse, like me, was too saddened by the passage, so he amended it into the cheerful scene on the coin![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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