Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XI 7 April 2016
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Lucania, Sybaris AR Stater. Circa 453-448 BC. Bull standing to left on ground line / Bull standing to right on ground line, MVBA (retrograde) above. The Golden Horn Collection, 2063 (same dies, sold for $11,000); otherwise unpublished; cf. HN Italy 1747. 8.16g, 18mm, 2h.
Good Very Fine. Of the highest rarity - the second known specimen.
A similar specimen cited in HN Italy (1747) has the obverse type of a bull walking to right. The obverse depiction of the bull standing to left was unpublished and thought to be unique at the time of the publication and sale of the Golden Horn Collection in January 2009.
This extremely rare coin can be attributed to the short-lived third foundation of Sybaris (Sybaris III), an attempt to re-establish the city, sponsored by Poseidonia, after Kroton had already twice destroyed it.
After the destruction of Sybaris I by Kroton in 510 BC, though many survivors fled to the Sybarite colonies of Laos and Skidros, some appear to have remained on the site which passed into Krotoniate dependency, as indicated by incuse coins bearing the joint ethnics of both Kroton and Sybaris and confirmed by a report that the Krotoniates appointed a governor at Sybaris. Sybaris II appears to have succumbed like its predecessor to an attack by the Krotoniates in 467 BC, in which conflict they appealed to the Syracusan tyrant Hieron for assistance, though none was forthcoming.
In 453 BC, a full fifty-eight years after the catastrophe of 510, Sybaris was refounded again with the apparent blessing and sponsorship of Poseidonia. That city is recorded as having acted as a guarantor in a treaty between Sybaris and the Serdaioi, and indeed the coins of Sybaris III are closely modelled on the contemporary issues of Poseidonia (see Rutter, 'Sybaris: Legend and Reality' 1970, p. 173), suggesting that city had a significant interest in the endeavour. The refounded city advanced swiftly in wealth on account of the fertility of its lands, and after only five years again aroused the jealousy or fear of Kroton, who once more brought war against Sybaris, and drove away the inhabitants.
Good Very Fine. Of the highest rarity - the second known specimen.
A similar specimen cited in HN Italy (1747) has the obverse type of a bull walking to right. The obverse depiction of the bull standing to left was unpublished and thought to be unique at the time of the publication and sale of the Golden Horn Collection in January 2009.
This extremely rare coin can be attributed to the short-lived third foundation of Sybaris (Sybaris III), an attempt to re-establish the city, sponsored by Poseidonia, after Kroton had already twice destroyed it.
After the destruction of Sybaris I by Kroton in 510 BC, though many survivors fled to the Sybarite colonies of Laos and Skidros, some appear to have remained on the site which passed into Krotoniate dependency, as indicated by incuse coins bearing the joint ethnics of both Kroton and Sybaris and confirmed by a report that the Krotoniates appointed a governor at Sybaris. Sybaris II appears to have succumbed like its predecessor to an attack by the Krotoniates in 467 BC, in which conflict they appealed to the Syracusan tyrant Hieron for assistance, though none was forthcoming.
In 453 BC, a full fifty-eight years after the catastrophe of 510, Sybaris was refounded again with the apparent blessing and sponsorship of Poseidonia. That city is recorded as having acted as a guarantor in a treaty between Sybaris and the Serdaioi, and indeed the coins of Sybaris III are closely modelled on the contemporary issues of Poseidonia (see Rutter, 'Sybaris: Legend and Reality' 1970, p. 173), suggesting that city had a significant interest in the endeavour. The refounded city advanced swiftly in wealth on account of the fertility of its lands, and after only five years again aroused the jealousy or fear of Kroton, who once more brought war against Sybaris, and drove away the inhabitants.