Page:The Odyssey (Butler).djvu/288

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A COIN OF ABOUT 430 B.C., NOW IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND CLASSED BY THE AUTHORITIES AS BELONGING TO SOME TOWN IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MT. ERYX, REPRODUCES ULYSSES' BROOCH, WITH OBVIOUS INTENTION, AS MAY BE SEEN BY THE ACCOMPANYING ILLUSTRATION, WHICH, HOWEVER, IS ENLARGED TO ABOUT DOUBLE THE DIAMETER OF THE COIN ITSELF. THE LEGEND ΙΑΚΙΝ (ABBREVIATION FOR ΙΑΚΙΝΟΝi.e. OF THE IACENSES, OR IONIANS—FOR IAKOS MEANS IONIAN) INDICATES THAT THIS TOWN, IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MT. ERYX, WAS REPUTED TO BE OF IONIAN ORIGIN, WHILE THE PRESENCE OF ULYSSES' BROOCH UPON THE COIN ALMOST COMPELS THE CONCLUSION THAT THE INHABITANTS OF THE COINING CITY CLAIMED A CONNECTION WITH THE ODYSSEY, WHICH THEY EXPRESSED BY NUMISMATIC ALLUSION TO THE PASSAGE WHICH SUGGESTS ITSELF AS MORE SUITABLE FOR SUCH ALLUSION THAN ANY OTHER IN THE WHOLE POEMSee Authoress of the Odyssey, pp. 227—231.

(To face p. 253).