The Double Apollos of Istrus

Istrus, a Greek colony of Miletos, on the western shore of the Black Sea, minted coins having an unidentified, unique image of two identical young male heads, one inverted with respect to the other. Earlier numismatists had several rather implausible interpretations for the symbol, but we suggest it may represent a total solar eclipse. There were three plausible eclipses visible just from Istrus and nearby regions in the classical world between about 450 and 400 BCE, when the coins are dated by numismatic criteria, of which the annular eclipse of 434 BCE was the most dramatic. The heads are, we believe, representations of the sun god Apollo. The inversion symbolizes the positions of the solar disk during the entering and exiting parts of the eclipse.