Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XI 7 April 2016
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Calabria, Tarentum AR Nomos. Circa 500-490 BC. Taras astride dolphin to right, holding octopus in his right hand and phiale in his extended left; rope and pellet border around / Hippocamp swimming to right, scallop shell below, TAPAΣ above; incuse radiating border around. Fischer-Bossert 33b (same dies); HN Italy 827; Vlasto 127. 8.07g, 20mm, 8h.
Extremely Fine. Beautiful old cabinet tone. Rare, and among the finest known examples.
From the Dr. Murray Gell-Mann Collection;
Ex Sotheby's, 7 March 1996, lot 27;
Ex Hess-Leu 28, 5-6 May 1965, lot 11;
Ex Ciani, February 1950.
Tarentum, the only Spartan colony ever to be established, was founded in 706 BC by the Partheniae - Spartan children born to unmarried women as a product of Spartan desperation to ensure the survival and continuation of their demographic during the bloody Messenian wars, who were later disowned and expelled by the state - and Perioeci (subjects, but not citizens of Sparta), under the leadership of the Parthenian Phalanthos. According to legend, Phalanthos consulted the oracle at Delphi, and was told that he should found his new city 'where rain fell from a clear sky'. After much searching, and despairing of finding a suitable location for a city, Phalanthos was consoled by his wife Aethra who laid his head in her lap, and as her tears splashed upon his forehead he understood the oracle's words for his wife's name itself meant 'clear sky', and thus he determined to make the nearby harbour the site of their new home, which they named after Taras, the son of Poseidon and the nymph Satyrion.
In the time this coinage was produced Tarentum was a monarchy, as it had been since its foundation. Though we have little information concerning the early governance of Tarentum, the monarchy was probably modelled on the one ruling over Sparta. According to Herodotus (iii, 136) a certain king Aristophilides ruled over the city in this period.
Since the arrival of the Greeks in the region in the late 8th century BC, a long-running series of skirmishes appears to have taken place between the Tarentines and the indigenous Iapygian tribes (Messapians, Daunians and the Peucetii) who controlled the interior of the Apulian peninsula. Tarentine expansion was therefore limited to the coast because of the resistance of these populations, a situation reflected in their coinage types which are predominantly marine in character.
In c.490 BC the Messapians moved against the Tarentines with a composite force of around 8,000 men including shield infantry, skirmishers, and their skilled cavalry. The Tarentines meanwhile fielded 4,000 citizen hoplites and 1,000 light infantry in support, as well as a combination of light and sword-wielding cavalry. Outside the walls of their city the Tarentines withstood the initial skirmishing and the Messapian charge; despite the superiority of the Messapian cavalry and being greatly outnumbered on foot, the Tarentines appear to have represented their Spartan heritage well in this battle, and were able to claim victory and a temporary respite from the Iapygian attacks. After this defeat the Iapygians would not challenge Taras again for nearly twenty years, but in 473 when they would again come against the Tarentines, they would come in overwhelming numbers.
Extremely Fine. Beautiful old cabinet tone. Rare, and among the finest known examples.
From the Dr. Murray Gell-Mann Collection;
Ex Sotheby's, 7 March 1996, lot 27;
Ex Hess-Leu 28, 5-6 May 1965, lot 11;
Ex Ciani, February 1950.
Tarentum, the only Spartan colony ever to be established, was founded in 706 BC by the Partheniae - Spartan children born to unmarried women as a product of Spartan desperation to ensure the survival and continuation of their demographic during the bloody Messenian wars, who were later disowned and expelled by the state - and Perioeci (subjects, but not citizens of Sparta), under the leadership of the Parthenian Phalanthos. According to legend, Phalanthos consulted the oracle at Delphi, and was told that he should found his new city 'where rain fell from a clear sky'. After much searching, and despairing of finding a suitable location for a city, Phalanthos was consoled by his wife Aethra who laid his head in her lap, and as her tears splashed upon his forehead he understood the oracle's words for his wife's name itself meant 'clear sky', and thus he determined to make the nearby harbour the site of their new home, which they named after Taras, the son of Poseidon and the nymph Satyrion.
In the time this coinage was produced Tarentum was a monarchy, as it had been since its foundation. Though we have little information concerning the early governance of Tarentum, the monarchy was probably modelled on the one ruling over Sparta. According to Herodotus (iii, 136) a certain king Aristophilides ruled over the city in this period.
Since the arrival of the Greeks in the region in the late 8th century BC, a long-running series of skirmishes appears to have taken place between the Tarentines and the indigenous Iapygian tribes (Messapians, Daunians and the Peucetii) who controlled the interior of the Apulian peninsula. Tarentine expansion was therefore limited to the coast because of the resistance of these populations, a situation reflected in their coinage types which are predominantly marine in character.
In c.490 BC the Messapians moved against the Tarentines with a composite force of around 8,000 men including shield infantry, skirmishers, and their skilled cavalry. The Tarentines meanwhile fielded 4,000 citizen hoplites and 1,000 light infantry in support, as well as a combination of light and sword-wielding cavalry. Outside the walls of their city the Tarentines withstood the initial skirmishing and the Messapian charge; despite the superiority of the Messapian cavalry and being greatly outnumbered on foot, the Tarentines appear to have represented their Spartan heritage well in this battle, and were able to claim victory and a temporary respite from the Iapygian attacks. After this defeat the Iapygians would not challenge Taras again for nearly twenty years, but in 473 when they would again come against the Tarentines, they would come in overwhelming numbers.