Obolos 31

ARCADIA. Psophis. Julia Domna, Augusta, 193-217. Assarion (Bronze, 21 mm, 3.97 g, 2 h). IOYΛΙΑ ΔΟΜΝΑ C-E Draped bust of Julia Domna to right. Rev. ΨΩΦEΙΔΙΩ-Ν The river-god Erymanthos reclining to right, holding reed (or branch?) in his right hand and leaning his left hand on a pithos from which water flows; in exergue, fish swimming to left. BCD Peloponnesos -. Imhoof-Blumer, Fluss- und Meergötter, in RSN 23, 1923, n. 208. A very interesting coin and an extreme rarity missing from the legendary BCD collection, meaning that no example of this type has appeared since at least 1960s. Some rough areas, otherwise, very fine.

Psophis was the location that according to the legend has been ravaged by the Erymanthian Boar, widely known from the fourth labor of Herakles. The Boar obviously took its name from the local river Erymanthos and its marches that surrounded the area.

The presence of the fish on the exergue is to be expected when there is a depiction of a river God. What is really surprising from a numismatic aspect, is the historical memory of the 4th century BC coins of Psophis, where the fish was the main reverse theme, was retained in the 3rd century AD!