Reintroducing Acheloios Hermotos of Parion
Abstract
Usually when I receive an email about a ‘new’ Acheloios it turns out to be a false positive—somehow over the years an encrustation, overstrike, or other phenomenon has reconfigured the coin so that the creature looks just like a man-faced bull. This happened many times when Dr. Sisci and I were writing ΠΟΤΑΜΙΚΟΝ, in which case we had examples from such places as Pantikapaion, Euboia, and even Knossos, a coin that almost forced a rewrite of the entire narrative. But for every dozen or so false-positives we find the real deal: the silver-eddying Acheloios, and there is nothing quite like being the first to see him after so many years in hiding. This essay documents one such occurrence, a seemingly bona fide Acheloios discovered by a man named John Miracle, and reintroduces a deity that has not been worshipped in cult for over two millennia: Acheloios Hermotos, of Parion.
References
Bernard, Paul. 1985. Fouilles d’Ai Khanoum IV, Les monnaies hors trésors—Questions d’histoire gréco-bacrtienne. Paris.
Isler, Hans Peter. 1970. Acheloos: Eine Monographie. Bern: Fancke Verlag.
Isler, Hans Peter. 1981. “Acheloos.” Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Vol. I. Zürich: Artemis & Verlag. 12-36.
Janke, A. 1904. Auf Alexanders des grossen Pfaden: Eine Reise durch Kleinasien. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung.
Judeich, W. 1898. Bericht über eine Reise im Nordwestlichen Kleinasien. Sitsungberichte Der Königlich Preussichen Akademie Der Wissenschaften Zu Berlin XXXIV. 531-555.
Keles, Vedat. 2018. Some Observations on the Altar of Hermokreon in Parion. In Dora Katsonopoulou (ed) Paros IV: Η ΠΑΡΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΑΠΟΙΚΙΕΣ ΤΗΣ. Athens.
Kritt, Brian. 2015. New Discoveries in Bactrian Numismatics. Classical Numismatic Studies No. 8. Lancaster, PA: CNG.
Molinari, Nicholas, and Nicola Sisci. 2016. ΠΟΤΑΜΙΚΟΝ: Sinews of Acheloios. A Comprehensive Catalog of the Bronze Coinage of the Man-Faced Bull, with Essays on Origin and Identity. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Molinari, Nicholas. 2018. Sophocles’ Trachiniae and the Apotheosis of Herakles: The Importance of Acheloios and some Numismatic Confirmations. Koinon I. Oxford: Archaeopress. 1-29.
Molinari, Nicholas. 2022. Acheloios, Thales, and the Origin of Philosophy: A Response to the Neo-Marxians. Archaeology and Classical Humanities Series Volume 1. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Süring, M. L. 1980. The Horn-Motif in the Hebrew Bible and Related Ancient Near Eastern Literature and Iconography. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press.
Warwick, Wroth, and Regiald S. Poole (eds.). 1892. Catalogue of the Greek coins of Mysia. London: British Museum.
Yilmaz, Michael D. 2020. Revisiting the Rivers Which Granted Life to Parion: Hermotos (?) and Rhesos (Rhoetites). Phaselis VI. 181-190.
Ancient Sources
Polyaenus. Stratagems. Edited by E.Woelfflin and J.Melber. Lipsiae: In aedibus B.G. Teubneri, 1887.
Strabo. Geography. 8 Volumes. Translated by Horace L. Jones. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1917-1932.
