Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Sale 53 7 Feb 2019
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Bruttium, Terina AR Stater. Circa 400-356 BC. Head of the nymph Terina right, wearing triple-pendant earring and pearl necklace; TEPINAIΩN before / Nike, wearing a long chiton and himation, sits left on a cippus shown in perspective, her feet crossed, the folds of her himation falling between her legs, draping the cippus; upon her outstretched right hand, held palm down, a dove alights; her left rests on the cippus. Regling, Terina 78 (dies MM/-); Holloway & Jenkins 84 (same obv. die); HN Italy 2629; SNG ANS 852 (same obv. die); SNG Lloyd 761-2 (same obv. die); BMC 41 = GPCG p. 46, 25 (same obv. die); Basel 242; Gulbenkian 154 (same obv. die); Kraay-Hirmer pl. 97, 280. 7.63g, 20mm, 3h.
Good Very Fine. Rare; an issue of great fascination and high artistic merit.
Acquired from Bertolami Fine Arts Ltd., London;
Ex private British collection.
Little is known of Terina; even its location is lost, though it is thought to have been in the vicinity of S. Eufemia Lamezia. The city was founded sometime before 460 BC by settlers from Kroton, probably after the Krotoniate defeat of Sybaris c.510. It was regarded as the burial place of the siren Ligeia, which suggests a more ancient settlement at this spot predating the Krotoniate colony. The city appears little in the histories of Magna Graecia, though we learn from an incidental note in Polyaenos' Stratagems (2.10.1) that the city was engaged in war with Thourioi under Kleandridas a few years after 444/3 - proof that Terina was significant in both size and power. That it was an important centre of trade, culture and wealth is further attested by the quality, diversity and number of its coins, as well as by evidence that a citizen of Terina was victorious at Olympia in 392 (Olympionikai 376).
Diodorus (16.15.2) reports that Terina was conquered by the Bruttians in 356, noting that it was the first Greek city to fall to the rising power of that people. Though it was recovered from them by Alexander of Epeiros, after the king's death it is likely that it quickly fell again under their dominion.
The present coin hails from the age of prosperity and power of Terina, and is directly influenced by the works on the coinage of both Olympia and Syracuse. The nymph Terina's form is evidently inspired by Euainetos' Arethusa, while the reverse is a direct evolution of the die dated c.410-405 which is signed by 'P' (Regling 43), and which Harlan J. Berk suggests as being a possible work of the master Polykrates. That die had been undoubtedly inspired by the coinage of Elis for the 87th Olympiad in 432 (Seltman 133), which in its turn was a celebration of the masterful Nike balustrade in the Temple of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis.
The reverse die of the present piece, though unsigned, is by a hand far more skilled than Regling 43, and can be considered not only to rank on a par with the famed issue of the 87th Olympiad, but even to have surpassed it. The delicate folds and pleats of Nike's chiton convey a sense of delicacy and fluidity as is seldom seen in numismatic art, being most akin to those rendered on the Nike of Samothrace.
Good Very Fine. Rare; an issue of great fascination and high artistic merit.
Acquired from Bertolami Fine Arts Ltd., London;
Ex private British collection.
Little is known of Terina; even its location is lost, though it is thought to have been in the vicinity of S. Eufemia Lamezia. The city was founded sometime before 460 BC by settlers from Kroton, probably after the Krotoniate defeat of Sybaris c.510. It was regarded as the burial place of the siren Ligeia, which suggests a more ancient settlement at this spot predating the Krotoniate colony. The city appears little in the histories of Magna Graecia, though we learn from an incidental note in Polyaenos' Stratagems (2.10.1) that the city was engaged in war with Thourioi under Kleandridas a few years after 444/3 - proof that Terina was significant in both size and power. That it was an important centre of trade, culture and wealth is further attested by the quality, diversity and number of its coins, as well as by evidence that a citizen of Terina was victorious at Olympia in 392 (Olympionikai 376).
Diodorus (16.15.2) reports that Terina was conquered by the Bruttians in 356, noting that it was the first Greek city to fall to the rising power of that people. Though it was recovered from them by Alexander of Epeiros, after the king's death it is likely that it quickly fell again under their dominion.
The present coin hails from the age of prosperity and power of Terina, and is directly influenced by the works on the coinage of both Olympia and Syracuse. The nymph Terina's form is evidently inspired by Euainetos' Arethusa, while the reverse is a direct evolution of the die dated c.410-405 which is signed by 'P' (Regling 43), and which Harlan J. Berk suggests as being a possible work of the master Polykrates. That die had been undoubtedly inspired by the coinage of Elis for the 87th Olympiad in 432 (Seltman 133), which in its turn was a celebration of the masterful Nike balustrade in the Temple of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis.
The reverse die of the present piece, though unsigned, is by a hand far more skilled than Regling 43, and can be considered not only to rank on a par with the famed issue of the 87th Olympiad, but even to have surpassed it. The delicate folds and pleats of Nike's chiton convey a sense of delicacy and fluidity as is seldom seen in numismatic art, being most akin to those rendered on the Nike of Samothrace.