Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 134 21 Nov 2022
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Greek Coins. Metapontum.
Nomos circa 340-330, AR 7.67 g. Male head l., wearing Corinthian helmet; in l. field, ΘAPPAΓOPAΣ and in r. field, K. Rev. META Ear of barley with leaf to l. upon which is an uncertain object with solid base and three outwardly curving upright prongs. Johnston A6.11 (these dies). Gillet 195 (this coin). Historia Numorum Italy 1561.
Extremely rare. A very interesting and attractive portrait of fine style.
Light old cabinet tone and good very fine
From the Charles Gillet collection and an Exceptional Collection assembled between the early 70s and late 90s.
The proper identification of the helmeted head depicted on the obverse of this rare Metapontine nomos has been the subject of some debate. Based on the Greek legend associated with it, in 1883 Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer identified it as a representation of an obscure local hero named Tharragoras, who is otherwise unknown in surviving ancient literature, and compared it to the roughly contemporary and similarly helmeted head of Leucippus found on issues of Syracuse. Based on the name, Imhoof-Blumer suggested a possible relationship to Arra, a form of the war-god Ares. More recently, in 2015, it has been argued that the head on this coin should be understood as an image of Athena using Tharragoras as her epithet, on the assumption that it derives from Tharso ("Brave") an old epithet of Athena. The apparent eyelashes-which are clearly visible on the present coin-and long hair were also adduced as evidence that we are looking at the head of an Athena Tharragoras. Very problematic for identifying the head as that of Athena is the very clear facial hair that runs down the edge of the cheek. In 2015 this was interpreted as locks of long hair spilling out from under the helmet, but it is very clear on this and other specimens that this is really a fashionably long sideburn that one would normally expect on a male. Also supporting the identification of the head as that of a male hero is the fact that a male citizen of Lampsacus is known with the personal name Thersagoras-the Ionic Greek form of Tharragoras. Demosthenes reports that in 360 BC, Thersagoras and another Lampsacene named Execestus murdered the Persian-supported tyrant Philiscus in an attempt to free Lampsacus. This Thersagoras is said to have fled to Lesbos after the death of Philiscus. While the name seems to strongly support a male gender for the head on the Metapontine coin, it seems rather improbable that the latter can be connected at all to the Lampsacene tyrannicide despite the fact that the nomos was struck only a few decades after the deed of Thersagoras. There is no evidence to suggest that Metapontum had any problems with its own tyrants in the mid-fourth century BC.
Nomos circa 340-330, AR 7.67 g. Male head l., wearing Corinthian helmet; in l. field, ΘAPPAΓOPAΣ and in r. field, K. Rev. META Ear of barley with leaf to l. upon which is an uncertain object with solid base and three outwardly curving upright prongs. Johnston A6.11 (these dies). Gillet 195 (this coin). Historia Numorum Italy 1561.
Extremely rare. A very interesting and attractive portrait of fine style.
Light old cabinet tone and good very fine
From the Charles Gillet collection and an Exceptional Collection assembled between the early 70s and late 90s.
The proper identification of the helmeted head depicted on the obverse of this rare Metapontine nomos has been the subject of some debate. Based on the Greek legend associated with it, in 1883 Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer identified it as a representation of an obscure local hero named Tharragoras, who is otherwise unknown in surviving ancient literature, and compared it to the roughly contemporary and similarly helmeted head of Leucippus found on issues of Syracuse. Based on the name, Imhoof-Blumer suggested a possible relationship to Arra, a form of the war-god Ares. More recently, in 2015, it has been argued that the head on this coin should be understood as an image of Athena using Tharragoras as her epithet, on the assumption that it derives from Tharso ("Brave") an old epithet of Athena. The apparent eyelashes-which are clearly visible on the present coin-and long hair were also adduced as evidence that we are looking at the head of an Athena Tharragoras. Very problematic for identifying the head as that of Athena is the very clear facial hair that runs down the edge of the cheek. In 2015 this was interpreted as locks of long hair spilling out from under the helmet, but it is very clear on this and other specimens that this is really a fashionably long sideburn that one would normally expect on a male. Also supporting the identification of the head as that of a male hero is the fact that a male citizen of Lampsacus is known with the personal name Thersagoras-the Ionic Greek form of Tharragoras. Demosthenes reports that in 360 BC, Thersagoras and another Lampsacene named Execestus murdered the Persian-supported tyrant Philiscus in an attempt to free Lampsacus. This Thersagoras is said to have fled to Lesbos after the death of Philiscus. While the name seems to strongly support a male gender for the head on the Metapontine coin, it seems rather improbable that the latter can be connected at all to the Lampsacene tyrannicide despite the fact that the nomos was struck only a few decades after the deed of Thersagoras. There is no evidence to suggest that Metapontum had any problems with its own tyrants in the mid-fourth century BC.