DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45277#0132
48
CALABRIA.
Head of goddess in stephane. | TAP AN. Kantharos.
BL Obol. Wt. 11-25 grs. (max.)
Head of Helios full face, radiate. I TAP AN. Fulmen. Magistrate’s name
I APOA.
AT | Litra. Wt. 6-75 grs. (max.)
Gold. Circ. b.c. 212-209.
Head of young Herakles in lion’s skin, TAPANTI[NHN] Taras driving biga.
of quite late style. 1 Magistrate, API. Symbol, fulmen.
[B. M. Guide, Pl. XLV. 14.] N. Stater. Wt. 135 grs. (max.)
The above described gold coins of Tarentum are perhaps the most
beautiful coins in this metal of any Greek city. The head of the goddess
with stephane and veil is an exquisite piece of workmanship. That of
Zeus is full of expression, but betrays a somewhat later style of art.
The eagle with expanded wings on the reverse of this coin is also a work
of considerable merit. But by far the most interesting of all is the
remarkable stater, on the reverse of which we see the boy Taras
stretching out his arms to his father Poseidon.
The date of the first issue of gold at Tarentum can hardly be fixed
precisely. It is scarcely likely that it was struck in any large quantity
much before b. c. 360, while there can be no doubt that the mass of it
belongs to the latter half of the fourth century.
The stater, which I attribute conjecturally to the time of the revolt
during the Hannibalic war, may be classed with the latest silver of
Tarentum, which seems to fall into the same short period. See p. 54.
The silver coinage consists in the main of didrachms, which fall into
three distinct classes :—
I. Tarentine rider.
II. Female head as on coins of Nea-
polis, etc.
III. Tarentine rider.
TAP AC Taras on dolphin1 II. III. .
Wt. 126-116 grs
T A. Horseman crowning his horse
Wt. 115-105 grs
TAP AC Taras on dolphin . .
Wt. 102-95 grs
In Class I the ancient weight is maintained intact.
The coins of Class II are peculiar and of a different fabric from all the
other coins of Tarentum. Their want of originality and of that remark-
able variety of detail which is so characteristic of all the other coins of
Tarentum, give them the appearance of having been issued as a sort of
Federal currency under the authority of Tarentum, but for circulation
outside the limits of the Tarentine territory. This hypothesis is further
strengthened by a consideration of the obverse-type, which is thoroughly
Campanian both in style and fabric. The weight, moreover, is precisely
that of the Campanian didrachms.
1 In the Num. Zeit., 1870, and Z. f. N., i. p. 278, a didrachm of this class is discussed which
bears the strange legend TAPANTlNflNHMI, which von Sallet proposes to read Tapavrlvav
elpi, I am the coin of the Tarentines. Friedlander, on the other hand, would interpret
HMI as ‘half.’
CALABRIA.
Head of goddess in stephane. | TAP AN. Kantharos.
BL Obol. Wt. 11-25 grs. (max.)
Head of Helios full face, radiate. I TAP AN. Fulmen. Magistrate’s name
I APOA.
AT | Litra. Wt. 6-75 grs. (max.)
Gold. Circ. b.c. 212-209.
Head of young Herakles in lion’s skin, TAPANTI[NHN] Taras driving biga.
of quite late style. 1 Magistrate, API. Symbol, fulmen.
[B. M. Guide, Pl. XLV. 14.] N. Stater. Wt. 135 grs. (max.)
The above described gold coins of Tarentum are perhaps the most
beautiful coins in this metal of any Greek city. The head of the goddess
with stephane and veil is an exquisite piece of workmanship. That of
Zeus is full of expression, but betrays a somewhat later style of art.
The eagle with expanded wings on the reverse of this coin is also a work
of considerable merit. But by far the most interesting of all is the
remarkable stater, on the reverse of which we see the boy Taras
stretching out his arms to his father Poseidon.
The date of the first issue of gold at Tarentum can hardly be fixed
precisely. It is scarcely likely that it was struck in any large quantity
much before b. c. 360, while there can be no doubt that the mass of it
belongs to the latter half of the fourth century.
The stater, which I attribute conjecturally to the time of the revolt
during the Hannibalic war, may be classed with the latest silver of
Tarentum, which seems to fall into the same short period. See p. 54.
The silver coinage consists in the main of didrachms, which fall into
three distinct classes :—
I. Tarentine rider.
II. Female head as on coins of Nea-
polis, etc.
III. Tarentine rider.
TAP AC Taras on dolphin1 II. III. .
Wt. 126-116 grs
T A. Horseman crowning his horse
Wt. 115-105 grs
TAP AC Taras on dolphin . .
Wt. 102-95 grs
In Class I the ancient weight is maintained intact.
The coins of Class II are peculiar and of a different fabric from all the
other coins of Tarentum. Their want of originality and of that remark-
able variety of detail which is so characteristic of all the other coins of
Tarentum, give them the appearance of having been issued as a sort of
Federal currency under the authority of Tarentum, but for circulation
outside the limits of the Tarentine territory. This hypothesis is further
strengthened by a consideration of the obverse-type, which is thoroughly
Campanian both in style and fabric. The weight, moreover, is precisely
that of the Campanian didrachms.
1 In the Num. Zeit., 1870, and Z. f. N., i. p. 278, a didrachm of this class is discussed which
bears the strange legend TAPANTlNflNHMI, which von Sallet proposes to read Tapavrlvav
elpi, I am the coin of the Tarentines. Friedlander, on the other hand, would interpret
HMI as ‘half.’