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Calabria, Tarentum, silver Nomos
Calabria, Tarentum, silver Nomos, c. 272-240 BC, Kynon, youth riding horse, walking to right, raising his right hand to crown the horse's head, below horse a bearded mask of Silenos facing below, below right, KY / NΩN, monogram of AP in upper left field, rev. TΑΡΑΣ, Phalanthos seated astride dolphin to left, holding kantharos in his extended right hand and resting his left on the back of the dolphin, 6.27g, 9 h (HN III 1031; Vlasto 859-862). Very fine, cleaned at some point, now retoning nicely.
Tarentum was founded by colonists from Sparta in the 8th century BC. In this series the dolphin-rider is variously described as the son of the god Poseidon, Taras, after whom the city was named, who was shipwrecked and saved by a dolphin which his father had sent to rescue him; or Phalanthos, the leader of the Spartan colonists, who was also shipwrecked and rescued by a dolphin; or an unnamed oekist, the term given to the lead-colonist who had authority to choose which site to colonize and direct the colony's activities in its early stages. The horse-riders are depicted at different ages, some with armour suggesting they are warriors, and others with laurel wreaths suggesting they are the winners at important celebratory games.