The Poet Aratus

Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 629. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Pompeiopolis. Geta. AD 209-211. Æ 27mm (9.89 g, 12h). Bare-headed, draped, and cuirassed bust of Geta right / Bare-headed and draped bust of Aratus right, gazing upwards. A.A. Boyce, “The Foundation Year of Pompeiopolis,” in Hommages à Marcel Renard (Brussels, 1969), pl. XXXIV, 9 = BMC 61 (same dies); SNG France -; SNG Levante -. Fine, brown patina, traces of earthen deposits, some scratches and minor roughness. Extremely rare.

From the J.S. Wagner Collection.

Aratus was a poet and philosopher from Soloi (Pompeiopolis) in the 3rd century BC. His most famous works are verse renditions of the treatises of the astronomer Eudoxus. Aratus’ poems were highly regarded by the Greeks and Romans.