Hymera

Imera was probably a nymph, personification of the Imera river which linked its name to the homonymous city (today's Termini Imerese). His cult would find confirmation in the story of Cicero (Verrine lib. II 87,88), in which the governor Verre was unable to subtract from the town of Himera a group of statues, previously looted by the Carthaginians following the destruction of Himera in 409 BC. statues were returned to the Imeresi by Publius Scipio, after the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC. Among these statues, the one from Himera stood out for its beauty. Some coins would confirm the cult of this divinity. A silver coin from Imera shows the nymph making sacrifices in a sanctuary, while another shows: the sanctuary, the jet of the spring, a satyr and a sacrificing nymph, most likely Himera herself [Biagio Pace: Arte and Civilization of Ancient Sicily. Volume III p. 481.]

 

Reference page: Repertory of Cults and Myths

 Extract from the Book ” Cults of Ancient Sicily” by Ignazio Caloggero ISBN: 9788832060102 © 2022 Centro Studi Helios srl

Nymph Himera, holding kentron (goad) in right hand, reins with both, driving quadriga left; above, Nike flying right, holding crown with both hands; in exergue, rooster left, on the sides NOIA-PEMI, (imeraion in retrograde writing) Himera standing facing, head left, holding a patera in the right hand over an altar on the left; she ears top right; on the right, a satyr bathing in a fountain in the shape of a lion's head. (https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Himera_Tetradrachm_77000037.jpg)

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