From the time I went to Greek school, this was a hot topic with no real answers. Suddenly, this investigator, Asterios Tsintsifos who is not an academic, but simply writes on Facebook, presents a suite of ancient coins showing Homer on coins of this northern Asia Minor town of Sesamos, also known as Amastris. Mr Tsintsifos appears to have the information at his fingertips, while researchers have been looking for Homer's birthplace for centuries!
When do you think the public will ever find out the answer to this question?
Asterios Tsintsifos is not simply some guy who happens to post on Facebook. Even though he's not an academic he is a published professional numismatist. Although his conclusions may not be definitive, they are not implausible. However, a town's paying homage to Homer doesn't necessarily entail that he was a local product. Plus, there is the fact that many scholars don't believe that there was a one and only "Homer" who authored the Iliad and Oddysey; others believe he may just be a legendary figure associated with an oral tradition.
thank you Karl Pfeifer
for your contribution. As far as I know no other town has depicted Homer on its coins, although many cities claimed to be Homer's birthplace. Asterios produced coins that obviously existed yet they were not mentioned by anyone else.
According to Asterios Tsintsifos, Uncovering the birthplace of Homer in the relief of ancient coins:
«It must be taken under consideration that anywhere Homer acted, wrote and taught, his depiction on coins, as we will later see, is the same. Always represented to sitting with an open or closed papyrus in his hands. The privilege of the portrait belonged only in his birthplace» p. 8.
Thus many places depicted Homer on their coins. The assumption I've boldfaced is questionable. Also, not all portrait coins bear inscriptions and sometimes the persons portrayed are not definitively identifiable.
Thank you Karl Pfeifer
for your continuous contribution. I agree that Asterios Tsintsifos writing about Sesamos was ground breaking (and he has many other unique contributions such as the possible Alexander's burial place, the Disk of Phaistos, etc). He is the first researcher to propose that Homer's hometown is not what was believed until then to be places like Chios and Smyrne.
By studying the coins exhaustingly Asterios Tsintsifos has done what so many other investigations failed to do: Give a fresh plausible theory.
I am afraid that the academic/research community is a bit slow to recognize his work. I know he has a very long list of supporters and followers, but regrettably not from the scientific community yet. So, it will be a long way before his ideas are mentioned in school textbooks in Greece and elsewhere.
Where Was Homer Born? Once again, the exact location of Homer's birth cannot be pinpointed, although that doesn't stop scholars from trying. It has been identified as Ionia, Smyrna or, at any rate, on the coast of Asia Minor or the island of Chios. But seven cities lay claim to Homer as their native son.
Country of nationality: Greece
Nationality: Greece
https://www.biography.com/.amp/writer/homer
Check https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/homer-230.php
Historians place his birth sometime around 750 BC and conjecture that he was born and resided in or near Chios. However, seven cities claimed to have been his birthplace. Due to the lack of information about Homer the person, many scholars hold the poems themselves as the best windows into his life. For instance, it is from the description of the blind bard in The Odyssey that many historians have guessed that Homer was blind. The Odyssey's depiction of the bard as a minstrel in the service of local kings also gives some insight into the life of the poet practicing his craft. What is undeniable is that.....
https://poets.org/poet/homer
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