Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIII 23 March 2017
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Bruttium, Rhegion AR Stater. Circa 485/3-481 BC. Euboic-Chalkidian standard. Facing lion's head / Head of calf to left with truncation terminating in beaded collar; RECINOS around; all within incuse circle. Cf. Caltabiano 1-13; Attianese, Calabria Graecia 1306; SNG ANS 620; HN Italy 2469. 17.16g, 24mm, 2h.
Very Fine. Extremely Rare; only sixteen specimens noted by Caltabiano, and one of only three examples on CoinArchives.
In 493 BC the city of Zankle had invited Samian refugees to settle in their territory following the Persian conquest of Samos, but at the behest of the tyrant of Rhegion, Anaxilas, the Samians instead betrayed their hosts and seized the undefended city for themselves. Not content with one betrayal, they proceeded to abandon their alliance with Anaxilas in favour of a treaty with Hippokrates of Gela. In 488 BC however, Anaxilas crossed the strait and drove out the Samians, repopulating the city with colonists from Peloponnesian Messenia, in whose honour he renamed the city Messana. Having thus secured control of both sides of the straits, Anaxilas issued a joint coinage in the name of both Messana and Rhegion utilising the same obverse and reverse types; the one being the first issue of coinage in the name of the refounded city of Messana, the other being the first coinage of Rhegion, excepting an extremely rare incuse type which had been struck some thirty years before.
Very Fine. Extremely Rare; only sixteen specimens noted by Caltabiano, and one of only three examples on CoinArchives.
In 493 BC the city of Zankle had invited Samian refugees to settle in their territory following the Persian conquest of Samos, but at the behest of the tyrant of Rhegion, Anaxilas, the Samians instead betrayed their hosts and seized the undefended city for themselves. Not content with one betrayal, they proceeded to abandon their alliance with Anaxilas in favour of a treaty with Hippokrates of Gela. In 488 BC however, Anaxilas crossed the strait and drove out the Samians, repopulating the city with colonists from Peloponnesian Messenia, in whose honour he renamed the city Messana. Having thus secured control of both sides of the straits, Anaxilas issued a joint coinage in the name of both Messana and Rhegion utilising the same obverse and reverse types; the one being the first issue of coinage in the name of the refounded city of Messana, the other being the first coinage of Rhegion, excepting an extremely rare incuse type which had been struck some thirty years before.