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FM22591

Calabria, Tarentum, silver Nomos

Calabria, Tarentum, silver Nomos, c.330-325 BC, youth on horse prancing to right, holding rein and crowning horse with wreath, Nike flying to right, crowning youth with open wreath, ΣIM below, rev. Taras on dolphin left, holding kantharos and trident, |-HP and waves below, TAP[AΣ] behind 7.85g, 8h (Vlasto 505; Fischer-Bossert Group 62, 785 [V308/R-]; HN Italy 886). Attractive, grey patina, about extremely fine.

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.

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