Nomos 37

Black Sea Region. Uncertain city. Circa 4th century BC or later, but pre-Roman. A Decorative Circular Roundel or Disc (Gold, 34 mm, 1.79 g, 12 h), intended to be used attached to a fabric backing. A Nereid, or sea nymph, nude to the waist, seated on the back of hippocamp swimming to right; she holds, with both hands, her veil, which billows behind her; below, an exergue formed by a trident to right above a dolphin swimming to left; all within a circular border formed by two linear circles between a further two dotted ones. Rev. As the obverse but incuse. For a similar numismatic parallel cf. Betlyon 349 (a Tyrian shekel with Melkart riding a hippocamp above the waves with a dolphin below). For archaeological parallels see: Christie's 9599, 13 May 2003, lot 150 (a Roman marble Nereid and hippocamp group of the 2nd century AD, copying an Hellenistic original); the Nereid riding a hippocamp on mosaics in the Bardo Museum and the Selçuk Museum (from Ephesos), and on the altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus from Rome; in addition, there are many representations of Thetis riding on a hippocamp bearing the arms of Achilles. Extremely rare. Unpublished and possibly unique. Tiny piercings on the edge and some crinkling, otherwise, extremely fine.

The naturalistic way the Nereid is shown makes a date earlier than the 4th century somewhat unlikely, but it certainly could be later, though it is almost certainly pre-Roman in date. The appearance of Poseidon's trident underneath the hippocamp has nothing to do with the creature's rider, rather, it probably indicates that this is a scene from a thiasos, or religious procession, in which Poseidon was a major figure. Thus, we ought to visualise other roundels, showing other figures from that procession, all part of an elaborate program of decoration for clothing. That this roundel was sewn on to some form of cloth backing is suggested by the tiny piercings that can be found on the roundel's edge. The suggestion that this might be a so-called Charon's obol, usually made by taking an impression of an actual coin with gold foil, should be dismissed.