Sear, D.R., Roman Coins and their Values 5 vols (London, Spink, 2000-2014) 282; Sydenham, E. A. The Coinage of the Roman Republic (London, Spink, 1952; (Sanford J. Durst repr. 1976) 741; Seaby, H.A., Roman Silver Coins (London, B.A. Seaby, 1967) Mamilia 6.

2017.03

Denarius serratus of C. Mamilius Limetanus

3.73 g. 82 BC

Purchased by the Friends of the ANU Classics Museum from the fund established in memory of Jill Greenwell.

Obv.:   Bust of Mercury r., draped and with caduceus over shoulder, behind Mercury’s head control letter I.

Rev.:    Ulysses standing r., holding staff in left hand and extending right hand to his dog Argus. C MAMIL downwards, on right LIMETAN (TA ligatured).

The reverse shows Ulysses, after an absence of many years, returning to his palace on Ithaca (Homer, Odyssey 17.290-327). He wears humble (mariner’s?) dress and is recognized by his old dog Argus, who dies on seeing his master at last. Such a death is necessary to the plot of the Odyssey, since the hero wishes to take the troublesome suitors of Penelope by surprise (and kill them). 

The moneyer, C Mamilius Limetanus, claims descent from Telegonus, son of Ulysses and Circe, and hence from Mercury (as an ancestor of Ulysses).

Note the return of the serrates after 20 years. They will now become common down to about 65 BC.  A restoration issue of this type by Trajan was issued (Mattingly, H.,Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, 6 vols (London, 1965) 2/ 678)

Sear, D.R., Roman Coins and their Values 5 vols (London, Spink, 2000-2014) 282; Sydenham, E. A. The Coinage of the Roman Republic (London, Spink, 1952; (Sanford J. Durst repr. 1976) 741; Seaby, H.A., Roman Silver Coins (London, B.A. Seaby, 1967) Mamilia 6.