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FM22593

Calabria, Tarentum, silver Nomos.

Calabria, Tarentum, silver Nomos, c.280-272 BC, Si- and Lykon, magistrates, rider on horseback to right, holding lance in right hand and shield with two javelins in left, ΣI behind, ΛYKΩN below, rev. Taras on dolphin left, holding smaller dolphin in extended right hand, left hand dolphin (?) TAPAΣ behind, 7.89g, 7h (Vlasto 695; HN Italy 967; SNG ANS 1069-70). Smaller dolphin partially off flan, 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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