LONDON.- A stunning Byzantine silver plate bearing an illustration of a happy homecoming - Odysseus welcomed home from the Trojan wars by his dog Argus - leads Bonhams sale of Antiquities on 2nd October in London.

The touching reunion scene of the hero and his faithful hound is beautifully worked into this silver Byzantine plate which is estimated to sell for £200,000 to £250,000. It is believed to date from around the mid-6th to mid-7th Century A.D. and possibly originates from Constantinople. It measures 9¼in (23.5cm) diam; 865g weight.

Odysseus, the great eponymous hero of Homer's epic poem The Odyssey was the king of Ithaca and the plate depicts the end of his ten-year journey home from the Trojan Wars. Homer tells us that at the goddess Athena's suggestion, Odysseus disguises himself as a beggar to ascertain the loyalty of his household. This plate captures the moment that Odysseus, accompanied by the servant Eumaeus, is recognised by his dog Argus despite his master’s disguise of the long unkempt hair of a beggar. The goddess Athena looks on to watch the culmination of her protection of Odysseus.

The shallow dish is double-skinned with a rounded rim and a short circular foot. The interior has a finely incised and chased relief scene which has been identified as depicting Odysseus dressed as a beggar greeting Argus the dog on his arrival home. The hero is shown seated in front of a tree wearing long drapery with sandals tied at his calves, holding a spear in his left hand, and holding out a lock of hair between thumb and forefinger of his right hand, his long hair falling to his shoulders.

Argus the dog wears a collar and leaps up with his front paws resting on his master's knees. A servant Eumaeus stands to the left of the scene wearing a short tunic and boots, a sack over his left shoulder. A bust of the goddess Athena emerges from clouds above. The reverse of the plate shows a finely chased profile head of a man, probably Alexander the Great.

This type of impressive luxury silver 'picture dish' has its origins in Roman Imperial silver 'show plates' of the 1st Century A.D. found in a number of hoards from throughout the Roman Empire. Later Roman hoards of luxury silver ware from the 4th and 5th Centuries have contained pagan iconography alongside Christian inscriptions and themes, demonstrating the continuation of traditional mythological subjects well into the Early Christian and Byzantine eras.