In the district called by the Greeks Messapia and Iapygia, and by the
Romans Calabria, the only town which presents us with a continuous
series of coins, extending from the earliest period down to its final capture by the Romans is the populous and wealthy city of Tarentum. The
other and less important towns only began to coin money at a later date,
with the single exception of Aletium, if the didrachms reading FΑΛΕΘΑS
and ΒΑΛΕΘΑS are correctly attributed to it.
Aletium or Baletium, about five miles east of the modern Gallipoli
on the Tarentine gulf, is the town to which the following silver coins
have been attributed.
SILVER. Circ. B.C. 350.
FΑΛΕΘΑS or ΒΑΛΕΘΑS, retrograde, on both sides of the coin.
Taras on dolphin.
[Cat. Martinetti-Nervegna, No. 235.]
Brundisium (Brindisi), the ancient rival of Tarentum, had long been
eclipsed by the latter when, in B.C. 245, it was occupied by a Roman
colony. The Appian Way was then extended to this port, which subsequently became the chief place of embarkation for Greece and the East.
It is now that the coinage begins. It falls into three series, which are
to be distinguished by successive reductions in weight, the types being
the same throughout.
The above dates are only approximate. The latest coins, which are
of rude work, bear Roman magistrates’ abbreviated names (Berl. Cat.
III. i. pp. 217 sqq.).
Graxa. The site of this town is not known. The coins are found on
the coast of the gulf of Tarentum. They are small bronze pieces
like those of Brundisium (which they resemble in style) and are among
the latest Greek coins issued in southern Italy (B. M. C., Italy, 221;
N. C., 1904, 291; Hunter Cat., I. 62).
Hyria or Orra (Oria) was an inland city on the Appian Way,
between Tarentum and Brundisium. Its coinage is all quite late,
consisting of bronze coins of Uncial and Semuncial weight, B.C. 217-89.
Tarentum (Taranto). In the year B.C. 708 a colony of Lacedaemonians,
called, from their illegitimate birth, the Partheniae, and said to have been
led by one Phalanthos, established themselves, by order of the Delphic
oracle, in Iapygia, on a little peninsula at the entrance of an inlet of
the sea, about six miles long by two to tree in breadth. The new city
thus commanded both the outer bay into which flowed the little river
Taras, and the inner port now known as the Mare Piccolo.
An ancient tradition tells how Taras, the founder of the first Iapygian
settlement on this spot, was miraculously saved from shipwreck by the
intervention of his father Poseidon, who sent a dolphin, on whose back
he was carried to the shore.
The same story was subsequently transferred to Phalanthos, also
mythical according to Busolt (Griech. Gesch., I. pp. 406 sqq.), who appears
in a later age to have been confounded with Taras. (Cf. also the story
of Arion’s voyage from Sicily to Corinth, Herod. i. 24.) The natural
advantages of the site selected for the colony were considerable. The
pasture lands in the vicinity produced excellent wool and a fine breed of
horses, and the purple fish (murex) of the little land-locked sea soon
became a source of wealth to the enterprising Greek colonists. To this
day the fisheries of the Mare Piccolo afford a remunerative occupation
to the inhabitants of the modern town of Taranto, for it abounds in
innumerable kinds of shell-fish, many of which are not found elsewhere.
The possession of this commodious harbour, the only safe one on those
coasts, necessarily brought Tarentum into commercial relations with all
parts of the Mediterranean sea. The political constitution of the city
in these early times was doubtless modelled on that of Sparta, and
Herodotus (i. 136) mentions a king of Tarentum in the time of Darius.
The worship of Apollo Hyakinthios at Tarentum was also clearly of
Spartan origin.
Among the earliest coins of Tarentum are thin plate-like disks with
the reverse-types incuse, similar in weight and fabric to the coins of the
Achaean cities of Southern Italy and to the first issues of Rhegium and
Zancle, etc. Tarentum must certainly at one time have been drawn into
the circle of their pervading commercial influence; see, however, the
remarks of G. Macdonald, Coin Types, pp. 12 sqq.
With regard to the origin of the silver standard or standards on which
54
Tarentum and the other cities of Magna Graecia struck their silver
staters there has been much discussion. For the clearest statement of
the theories of the leading numismatists of the last century see Hill's
Handbook, pp. 61-2. But whether the so-called Tarentine standard,
with its silver stater of 129 grs. maximum, divided into halves, ought to
be distinguished from the almost identical standard of other S. Italian
cities whose staters, like the Corinthian, are divided into thirds, is an
open question. Hitherto the coins of the two systems have been con-
veniently distinguished, the one as Tarentine, the other as Italic. It
has, however, been recently shown by K. Regling (Klio, Bd. vi. Heft 3,
pp. 504 sqq.) that no such distinction was known to the Greeks; and,
what is still more important, that the Tarentine and Heraclean stater
(and not the diobol) was called by the ancients the ‘Ιταλικος νομος.
The rare staters on which the obverse types are repeated in incuse
forms on the reverse were probably, as Regling (op. cit., p. 515) argues
from their somewhat lighter weights, not struck for local use in Tarentum
itself, but for commerce with the Achaean cities of Magna Graecia.
Their types are as follows:—
The following types in relief on both sides may be contemporary with
the incuse types described above, both classes belonging to the second
half of the sixth century B.C. The inscription ΤΑRΑS is usually retro-
grade. The fabric of these pieces is compact, and differs essentially from
the thin plate-like incuse disks already mentioned.
The meaning of the Wheel is doubtful. I would suggest that it may
be agonistic, and that, on the well-known principle of the part stand-
ing for the whole, the wheel may stand for a racing chariot. On the
next succeeding class the wheel on the reverse is replaced by a hippo-
camp, circ. B.C. 500 (A. J. Evans, Horsemen of Tarentum, (1889), Pl. I. 4).
Not much later than B.C. 500 the head of Taras, or a female head,
possibly the local nymph Satyra, the mother of Taras, supersedes the
wheel (Evans, Pl. I. 5, 6) on the larger denominations.
In the year B.C. 473 Tarentum sustained a crushing defeat at the hands
of the Messapians, in which she lost the flower of her aristocratic youth.
The result was a change in the constitution and the establishment of a
democracy, under which the city soon regained all, and more than all, its
ancient prosperity.
The money of this period, which may have extended down to about
B.C. 420, is distinguished by a new reversetype, a seated figure, probably
Taras or Phalanthos as oekist, usually but wrongly called Demos,
holding in his hand an object symbolical of the commerce of the city,
such as most frequently the distaff bound with wool.
Inscriptions: ΤΑRΑS, ΤΑRΑΣ, and later ΤΑΡΑΝΤΙΝΩΝ.
FIG. 25.
Taras on dolphin, variously represented,
usually with marine symbols in the
field.
Male figure (Taras as oekist ?) naked to
waist, seated, holding distaff, kantha-
ros, &c., or offering a bird to a pan-
ther’s cub (the last perhaps a Diony-
siac variety) (Fig. 25).
On the coins of this series the style progresses rapidly from archaic to
fine art.
Cockle-shell.
Female (?) head.
AR Litra, wt. 13 grs.
„
„
AR ½ Litra., wt. 7-4 grs.
56
In B.C. 436 occurred the struggle between the newly founded Athenian
colony of Thurium and Tarentum for the possession of the territory
of Siris, which ended, B.C. 432; in the joint foundation by these two
towns of Heraclea in Lucania.
It was probably about this time, or according to Evans even earlier
(circ. B.C. 450), that a new type began to come into use on the Tarentine
staters, alternating with that of the previous class with the seated
oekist, viz. a Rider on horseback, who is represented in such a great
variety of attitudes, and through such a long series of coins, that a detailed description of the almost endless modifications is here impossible.
On some specimens he is a naked boy or ephebos crowning his horse, as
if after an agonistic victory; on others he is a man in full vigour, now
naked; and now armed with helmet, shield, and lances. Occasionally
the horseman leads a second horse, in which case he is perhaps one of
the famous Tarentine cavalry who, we are informed by Livy (xxxv. 28),
went into action with two horses, ‘binos secum trahentes equos.’ On
the whole, however, it is safer to regard all these types as illustrating
the games in the hippodrome, and as being connected with agonistic
festivals rather than warfare.
The silver staters of this ‘Horseman’ type and their subdivisions
have been classified by Evans (op. cit.) in ten chronological periods as
follows:—
Italic-Tarentine Standard, 123-120 grs.
I.
Transitional.
c. 450-c. 430 B.C.
II.
„
c. 420-c. 380 „
III.
Age of Archytas.
c. 380-c. 345 „
IV.
Archidamus and the First Lucanian War.
c. 344-c. 334 „
V.
From the Molossian Alexander to the Spartan Kleonymos.
Gold coins were also struck at Tarentum during Periods IV, V, VI,
and X. Some of these are perhaps the most beautiful coins in this
metal of any Greek city (see infra).
The period between about B.C. 380 and 345, during which the philosopher Archytas was the chief of the state, was the culminating epoch of
the prosperity of Tarentum. This was the age of Dionysius of Syracuse,
whose wars against the Greeks of Southern Italy resulted in Tarentum
being left without a single formidable rival in those parts.
Then followed the struggles with the barbarians, when the wealthy
and luxurious Tarentine merchants, unable to cope with their opponents
single-handed, called in the aid, first of Archidamus, king of Sparta
(B.C. 338), next of Alexander the Molossian (330), and then of Cleonymus
(314), after which they concluded a peace with their barbarous foes,
57
Messapians, Lucanians, and Bruttians; for a new and more powerful
enemy than any they had hitherto met was slowly and surely advancing
upon them.
In B.C. 302 the long impending conflict between Rome and Tarentum
began. The Tarentines distrusting their own strength now called to their
assistance king Pyrrhus of Epirus, B.C. 281. The events of the famous
campaign of this soldier of fortune with his Macedonian phalanx, and
his squadron of elephants, are so familiar that we need not dwell upon
this well-known chapter of history. His effort was in vain, and a few
years later (B.C. 272) the great Greek city of South Italy fell into the
hands of all-conquering Rome, although as a free and allied city, civitas
foederata, it appears to have been allowed to strike money down to
B.C. 228 (Evans, Horsemen, p. 192).
The coinage of Tarentum between about B.C. 450 and 228 is, as might
be expected, more plentiful than that of any other Greek city of Italy.
It is of three metals, gold, silver, and bronze.
GOLD. Circ. B.C. 340-281.
The gold coins of Tarentum may be approximately classified in the
following order:—
FIG. 26.
ΤΑΡΑΣ Head of goddess wearing
stephane and veil hanging down
behind her head, which is sometimes
surrounded by dolphins (Fig. 26).
(i) Taras as a child holding out his
arms to his father Poseidon
enthroned before him. (Evans, Pl. V. 1.)
(ii) Rider crowning horse.
ΚΥΛΙΚ, Σ, and shell; ΣΑ, star.
(iii) The Dioskuri; above, sometimes
ΔΙΟΣΚΟΡΟΙ; magistrate, ΣΑ.
AV Staters. Wt. 133 grs. (max.).
The type of the Dioskuri is dated by Evans circ. B.C. 315.
ΤΑΡΑΝΤΙΝΩΝ Head of goddess with
flowing hair, wearing stephane or
with hair bound with cord; often
with magistrate’s name, ΣΑ.
The types of this small gold coin are identical with certain coins bear-
ing the name of Alexander of Epirus struck between B.C. 334 and 338
during his Italian expedition. The piece can thus be accurately dated.
GOLD. Hannibalic Occupation. Circ. B.C. 212-209.
Head of young Herakles in lion-skin, of
quite late style.
[B. M. Guide, Pl. XLV. 14.] AV Stater. Wt. 132 grs.
Head of Athena in Corinthian helmet.
[Evans, Horsemen. Pl. X. 16.]
Taras in biga AV Tetrobol 44.2 grs.
The head of the goddess with stephane and veil on the earliest gold
coins is an exquisite piece of workmanship. That of Zeus is full of
expression, but betrays a somewhat later style of art. The eagle with
expanded wings on the reverse of the latter piece is also a work of considerable merit. But by far the most interesting of all is the remarkable
stater, on the reverse of which we see the boy Taras stretching out his
arms to his father Poseidon. This type, probably the earliest in the
whole group, has been referred to the appeal of Tarentum to Sparta
which led to the expedition of Archidamus, B.C. 338. There can be no
doubt that all these fine gold coins of Tarentum are earlier in date than
59
any other gold coins struck elsewhere in Italy, with the exception of
a few small pieces of Etruria and Cumae.
The silver issues of Tarentum subsequent to the middle of the fifth
century are classified in chronological sequence by Evans as follows:—
Period I. Circ. B.C. 450-430.
To this period may be assigned a few early specimens of the equestriantype which are evidently contemporary with some of the coins of the seated
oekist type (Evans, Pl. II. 1-4). Obv. Naked horseman; Rev. Taras on
dolphin. Inscr. ΤΑΡΑΝΙΤΙΝΙΩΝ, sometimes retrograde, and in one
instance ΤΑΡΑΝΙΤΙΝΩΝΗΜΙ, which von Sallet (Z. f. N., i. 278) has
explained as equivalent to Ταραντινων ειμι, a formula which refers to the
official device, signet, or seal, stamped upon it. Beneath the dolphin on
the reverse the sea is indicated either by naturalistic waves or by a shell
or a polypus.
Period II. Circ. B.C. 420-380.
FIG. 27.
The break between Periods I and II is filled by a reversion to the
preceding oekist type (cf. the later examples figured in Evans, Pl. I); but
from B.C. 420 onwards the Horseman type is constant at Tarentum on
the didrachms, though there is considerable variety of design. The rider
usually carries a shield, and is sometimes seated sideways as a desultor
about to vault from his steed (Fig. 27); sometimes he wears a conical
helmet and chlamys, but, as a rule, he is naked. The horse is represented
either cantering, galloping, or stationary and crowned by his rider,
clearly as the winner of a horse-race. Taras, the dolphin-rider, on the
reverses is also shown in varying forms, sometimes carrying shield and
javelin, acrostolium, oar, etc. Abbreviated signatures also begin to
appear about this time, e. g. Π, Σ, A, ΑΛ, Λ, ΛΕ. For details see Evans,
op. cit., pp. 42 sqq.
Period III. Circ. B.C. 380-345.
FIG. 28.
The coins of this period of about thirty-five years, during which the
philosopher-statesman Archytas was practically ruler of Tarentum,
60
include among them the finest issues of the Tarentine mint. The types,
though in the main similar to those of Period II, exhibit greater variety
and delicacy of workmanship, picturesqueness; and imaginative conception. Evans (op. cit.) enumerates eighteen distinct types, the obverses
of which refer to horse-races, the most frequent scheme being a jockey
crowning the winning horse, or himself crowned by a flying Nike and
leading by the bridle a second horse (Fig. 28). The reverses show Taras
on his dolphin in various graceful attitudes and frequently spearing a fish
with his trident. The inscription is simply ΤΑΡΑΣ. Nearly all the issues
bear abbreviated signatures of from one to three letters, probably those
of mint-officials, or of officinae of the mint.
Period IV. Circ. B.C. 344-334.
FIG. 29.
During Period IV the Tarentines, hard pressed by their semi-barbarous immediate neighbours, the Messapians on the east, in conjunction with the still more formidable Lucanians on the west, were driven
to turn for help to their mother city Lacedaemon,—in other words to
employ and pay for Greek mercenary troops. This, of course, involved
a considerable drain upon the Tarentine treasury, and was doubtless
the cause of the first issue of gold money, for the payment of their
imported allies. It is a mistake to suppose that the occasional issue of
gold coins by Greek cities is indicative of peaceful and prosperous times.
The contrary is the case. All the evidence goes to suggest that, in
Greece proper and the West, silver was long regarded as sufficient for all
ordinary commercial purposes in quiet times, and moreover that even
silver money was chiefly in demand, or that at any rate the larger
denominations were mostly issued, on special occasions, such as the frequently recurring agonistic festivals. Gold money, on the other hand,
was only struck exceptionally, and in order to meet the extraordinary
cost of maintaining or contributing to the support of an army or fleet
in war time. The sporadic issue of gold coins at Athens (q. v.) may be
cited in support of this opinion.
The gold coins struck at Tarentum circ. B.C. 340 are described above.
The silver didrachms of this period rival in beauty those of Period III
(cf. the selections figured in Evans, Horsemen, Pl. III and IV). Among
them may be mentioned the pictorial types, one boy crowning his horse
while another kneels beneath it examining its hoof (Fig. 29; Evans,
Pl. IV. 3); the victorious horse welcomed and embraced by a naked
athlete or by Nike (Ibid., Pl. IV. 5-8; cf. Fig. 31, infra).
The coins as a rule bear a single letter on either side, but some of the
finest are signed ΑΡΙ and ΚΑΛ, identified by Evans with Aristoxenos
and Kal..., whose signatures occur upon coins of the neighbouring city
of Heraclea, and are supposed by him to be engravers’ names (Fig. 30).
61
FIG. 30.
Period V. Circ. B.C. 334-302.
The next class of Tarentine didrachms is certainly contemporary
with the Italian expedition of Alexander of Epirus, who came to the
assistance of the Tarentines B.C. 334-330. It is characterized by the
addition in the field of the reverse, of the Molossian symbol, an eagle
seated with closed wings (cf. Evans, Pl. VI. 1-4). The obversetype of
the didrachms is almost always a naked horseman lancing downwards,
a type which rarely occurs after B.C. 302. The dolphin-rider on the
reverses is at this time assimilated to an infant Iacchos carrying a distaff.
Between B.C. 330 and 302 the Horseman and the Dolphin-rider exhibit
greater variety (Evans, Pl. VI. 5-12), the most remarkable obversetype
being Phalanthos (?) on a prancing horse and carrying a large round
shield ornamented with a dolphin (his badge or arms). As in the
previous period, initials of the mint-officials (?) (one to four letters) are
usually conspicuous on both sides.
Period VI. Circ B.C. 302-281.
To this period of about twenty years belong an the didrachms of full
weight bearing on the obverses magistrates’ names, for the most part
unabbreviated, with the addition on one or both sides of other signatures
consisting of two or three letters in the field. The magistrates’ names
are ΑΡΕΘΩΝ, ΣΩΚΡΑΤΗΣ, ΦΙΛΙΑΡΧΟΣ, ΚΡΑΤΙΝΟΣ, ΛΥΚΙΑΝΟΣ,
ΦΙΛΩΝ, ΦΙΛΟΚΛΗΣ, ΑΝΘΡΩΠ, ΔΕΙΝΟΚΡΑΤΗΣ, ΛΥΚΩΝ, ΑΛΕΞΑΝ,
ΝΙΚΩΤΤΑΣ, ΝΙΚΩΝ, ΝΙΚΟΔΑΜΟΣ, ΑΡΙΣΤΙΑΣ, ΕΥΑΡΧΙΔΑ[Σ]. The
other signatures, e.g. ΣΑ, ΣΙ, , ΕΥ, ΖΟΡ, etc., now occupy positions
of secondary importance to those of the chief civic magistrates. The
types of the didrachms, though more varied than in the previous period,
still exhibit the same general designs of the rider as a jockey or as an
armed cavalier. The horse in one instance (Evans, Pl. VII. 4) is
welcomed and embraced by Nike, a scheme which seems to have been
copied from a didrachm of Period IV (Ibid., Pl. IV. 7). On the reverse
of the same coin Taras is seen rising from the back of his dolphin, upon
which he kneels with one knee.
To this period also, B.C. 302-281, we may perhaps refer the first issues
of a peculiar class of Tarentine didrachms, the weight of which,
116 grs. max., corresponds with coins circulating, under Neapolitan
influence, outside the Tarentine territory in the Samnian and Apulian
districts hitherto dominated by the Campanian weight-standard. It
62
would appear, therefore, that the coins of this series, although struck
at Tarentum, must have been intended for extra-territorial circulation,
for, among numerous finds of Tarentine coins made at or near Taranto,
Evans observed no specimens of this class. The types are as follows:—
Female head; hair diademed or in sphen-
done as on coins of Neapolis.
TA Boy-rider crowning his horse;
beneath, dolphin, and in field some-
times changing symbol.
Wt. 116-105 grs.
It is doubtful when Tarentum began to issue didrachms on this Cam-
panian standard (116 grs.) and how long she continued to do so after it
had been partially superseded in Campania by the introduction (accord-
ing to Haeberlin circ. B.C. 312) of the Romano-Campanian didrachm
reduced in weight to 105 grs., equivalent to 6 Roman scripula of 17.5 grs.
Evans (Horsemen, pp. 132 and 170) argues that most of the issues of the
Campano-Tarentine coins belong to the post-Pyrrhic period, after
B.C. 272; but it is difficult to reconcile this theory with Haeberlin's
opinion that the reduction of the Romano-Campanian didrachm from 116
to 105 grs. took place soon after B.C. 312, and that even in Tarentum
itself a corresponding reduction of weight was effected circ. B.C. 281.
The Campano-Tarentine didrachms lack the originality and variety of
detail which is so characteristic of most of the other coins of Tarentum.
Their types represent a combination of the familiar contemporaryobverses
of the didrachms of Tarentum and of Neapolis; the more distinctively
local reverse types being set aside in each case. These facts, taken in
conjunction with the weight-standard employed, lend colour to the
assumption that they were issued as Federal coins in a monetary alliance
between Tarentum and Neapolis.
In B.C. 282 Pyrrhus of Epirus was invited by the Tarentines to come
to their aid against the Romans. Evans (Horsemen, p. 139 sq.) has
pointed out that Tarentum, so long as Pyrrhus was in Italy, was called
upon to defray a large part of the war expenses incurred by him on its
behalf, and he adduces evidence to show that it was during the period
of the Pyrrhic rule that the Tarentine didrachms were definitely reduced
in weight, the adjunct symbols, Pyrrhic elephant, etc., clearly indicating
the date of their issue. It would seem, however, that the actual cause
of the reduction in the weight of the Tarentine didrachm or nomos is
to be sought not in Pyrrhus’s intervention, but rather in the commercial
relations of Tarentum with the various Greek and Italian mints as, one
63
by one, they, sooner or later, came under the growing influence of Rome,
whose silver staters, issued primarily for circulation in Campania, had
been reduced in weight, as early as B.C. 312, from about 117 to 105 grs.
(=6 Roman scripula of 17.5 grs.) (cf. Haeberlin, Die Systematik desältesten
römischen Münzwesens, p. 67). Tarentum was the last of the cities
of South Italy to admit the necessity of accommodating her silver coinage to the Roman six-scruple standard. It is true that, de facto if not
de iure, her silver coins had been gradually sinking in weight down to
the Roman standard of 105 grs. during the previous period, but contemporaneously with the Pyrrhic wars the minimum weight of the Tarentine
nomos as hitherto issued appears to have been definitely fixed as the
maximum weight of the subsequent issues.
The obverse types of the silver staters of Period VII are: Horseman
lancing downwards; Boy-rider on horse, received and crowned by naked
youth, as on an older coin of Period IV (Fig. 31); Boy-rider crowning his
horse or crowning himself; Armed warrior cantering; Naked youth on
cantering horse, sometimes as a desultor seated sideways; Naked youth
holding torch, on horse cantering or galloping; The Dioskuri on cantering
horses.
The reverse types show Taras on his dolphin in various attitudes and
holding various objects, e.g. bow and arrow; Nike and cornucopiae;
Nike and trident; Nike and distaff; Nike, shield, and two lances;
two lances, and aiming another; trident; kantharos and trident, kantharos and palm; grapes and distaff; akrostolion and distaff, etc.
The signatures of magistrates and moneyers (?) and the symbols on obv.
and rev. are as follows :—
Pyrrhus left Italy in B.C. 274, and in 272 Tarentum surrendered to the
Romans, but she seems to have continued to strike her own coins as
a civitas foederata. Evans (Horsemen, pp. 163 sqq.) divides the post-
Pyrrhic issues, on the evidence of a large hoard found at Taranto in
1883, into an earlier and a later class struck during the period of the
Roman alliance (VIII) 272-circ. 235 and (IX) circ. B.C. 235-228. To the
first of these periods he would also assign the majority of the so-called
‘Campano-Tarentine’ coins above referred to, chiefly on grounds of style,
but also because some of the adjunct symbols are common to the Cam-
pano-Tarentine and to the purely Tarentine issues.
The Tarentine didrachms of the Post-Pyrrhic issues, especially those of
Period VIII, are somewhat smaller in module, of more careless workman-
ship, and of more monotonous design than the coins of the preceding
classes.
The obverse-types, omitting details, are as follows:— Boy-rider
crowning horse, sometimes crowned himself by flying Nike; Boy-rider
on stationary horse; Naked horseman lancing downwards or carrying
palm; Helmeted warrior on stationary, cantering, or galloping horse;
The Dioskuri on cantering horses.
Period IX. Roman alliance continued, circ. B.C. 235-228.
The later coins issued during the period of the compulsory alliance
of Tarentum with Rome are distinguished by Evans from those of
Period VIII by their somewhat larger module and by their more
minutely elaborate style and execution. Another characteristic feature
of the coins of this small class is the frequent occurrence of a complicated
monogram in the field of the obverse.
The obverse-types are as follows:—Naked youth at full gallop, holding torch behind him; Boy-rider at full gallop, with his body thrown
back; Hippakontist at full gallop, hurling javelin; Boy-rider crowning
stationary horse, or holding palm and cantering; One of the Dioskuri on
horseback; Warrior crowned by Nike, on cantering horse.
On the reverses Taras on his dolphin usually holds; in his right hand,
kantharos, hippocamp, rhyton, trident, or Nike; and, in his left hand,
trident or cornucopiae. A specially beautiful variety shows Taras
turning round on his dolphin and holding his chlamys like a sail behind
him (Evans, Pl. X. 7).
The signatures and symbols on the coins of Period IX are the
following :—
Period X. Hannibalic occupation, circ. B.C. 212-209.
Evans (Horsemen, p. 191 sq.) argues that it was about B.C. 228 that
Tarentum must have been deprived by Rome of her rights of mintage, and
that henceforth the Victoriatus of 3 Roman scruples became the unit of
66
currency throughout S. Italy. In any case there is a very distinct break
in the Tarentine series, and, after an interval, a short renewal of
autonomous issues both of gold and silver. These latest Tarentine issues
must in all probability be assigned to the few years during which
Tarentum regained her autonomy in virtue of her treaty with Hannibal
(Livy xxv. 8).
For the gold coins see supra, p. 58. The largest silver coin, now
reduced to 59 grs. max. [1], though resembling in type the demonetized
6 scruple staters, approximates in weight to the Illyrian drachms of
Apollonia, Dyrrhachium, &c. (56 grs. max.), as also to the earlier
Victoriati of 3 Roman scruples (53 grs.) which, in the interval between
B.C. 228 and 212, had replaced the autonomous Tarentine issues.
Notwithstanding their types, the Tarentine silver coins of Hannibal's
time were practically drachms rather than staters, though it is quite
possible that they may have been popularly designated nomoi.
The obverse-types are as follows :—Boy-rider crowning horse, some-
times holding palm, or himself crowned by Nike; Hippakontist
galloping, hurling javelin; Helmeted horseman carrying palm.
The subdivisions of the stater ranging in date from Circ. B.C. 520-420:
diobols, litrae, obols, and their fractions, together with a rare drachm
of the Hippocamp series (circ. B.C. 500), have been already mentioned.
Among the later subdivisions, belonging mainly to the fourth century, are
the following :—
Herakles strangling the lion or per-
forming one of his other labours, often
with the legend ΤΑΡΑΝΤΙΝΩΝ at
length or abridged.
The later speci-
mens have letters and symbols in the
field.
1 Mr. Macdonald has suggested to me that, if these Tarentine coins were struck under
Hannibal’s influence, they might have been intended for drachms of the Phoenician
standard, which would speedily become, in Italy, indistinguishable from the prevalent
Roman standard.
The diobols, especially those of the Heraklestype, are very abundant.
These little coins formed the staple of the common currency in the
Tarentine fish-markets, as well as in the rural districts subject to
Tarentum, and even beyond its territories,—in Apulia and Samnium for
instance. They are identical in type with the diobols of Heraclea, the
meeting-place of the federal congress of the Italiot Greeks, and they
should in point of fact be regarded as federal rather than as local issues.
That the Tarentine diobol exchanged for 10 ounces of bronze, we
gather from the circumstance that the obol commonly bears the mark of
value •••••, as we shall presently see. If, therefore, the obol was equal
to the bronze quincunx, the diobol must have been equivalent to the
dextans, which, as struck in Apulia (see Teate and Venusia), was
called a Nummus.
The name Nummus may, therefore, have been applied, in Apulia, first
of all to the silver diobol as the federal unit of account at Heraclea and
Tarentum, and may then have been transferred to its equivalent, the
unit of bronze consisting of 10 ounces.
In the Tabulae Heracleenses, however (Boeckh, Corp. Inscr. Gr., 5774,
line 123), a distinction is drawn between the silver and the bronze nummus, for a fine of 10 nummi, δεκα νομως αργυριω, is ordered to be paid by
the tenant of certain lands who shall have omitted to plant the full
number of olive trees specified in his contract. The fine was 10 silver
nummi for each plant, παρ το φυτον εκαστον; the addition of the word
αργυριω was intended to secure the payment of the sum in silver, and we
now know from a recently discovered inscription that the νομος ‘Ιταλιωτικος
therein specified was the stater or didrachm and not the diobol (Regling,
Klio, Bd. vi, p. 504).
Five dots is the usual mark of value of the obol. There are, however,
various other little coins, some of which have only two, three, or four
dots, though in weight they might pass for obols. To what system, if
any, these dots refer is doubtful. In some cases they may represent
fractions of the litra (or tenth part of the stater, the obol being the
twelfth), a coin which was distinguished at Tarentum by its type, the
pecten or cockle-shell.
LITRAE, wt. 13.5 grs., and HEMILITRA 6.7 grs. (max.).
For convenience of reference I have preferred to describe the
Tarentine drachms of the owl type together in this place rather than at
the end of the several series of staters to which they chronologically
belong. For the space of about 200 years (circ. B.C. 500-300) Tarentum
does not seem to have struck any half-staters, the stater or νομος
and the small silver coins having doubtless been sufficient for all
requirements.
It was not until shortly before the time of Pyrrhus, that is, before the
definite reduction of the Tarentine stater from 120 grs. to 105 grs.,
that Tarentum began to issue drachms. Although all the owl-type
drachms appear to follow the reduced standard, the signature ΖΟΡ,
which is common to the earliest specimens of the class and to full-weight
staters of Period VI (B.C. 302-201), proves that the issue of drachms
began before the legal reduction of the standard; and as it is extremely
unlikely that contemporary staters and half-staters would have been
struck on different standards, as Evans (Horsemen, p. 126) suggests, we
are driven to the conclusion that the drachms of Period VI which have
hitherto been discovered are merely specimens of deficient weight, as
indeed were many staters of the same period. It has already been
explained that the reduction of the weight of the stater (circ. B.C. 281)
from 120 grs. to 105 grs. was probably only a legitimation of the already
current coins of deficient weight and an accommodation of the Tarentine
standard to the Roman six-scruple standard which had been gradually
creeping into general use in South Italy.
The types of the Tarentine drachms (weights 56-50 grs. max.),
omitting details, are as follows:—
Period VI. Circ. B.C. 302-281.
Obv. Head of Athena with Skylla on helmet; rev. Owl with closed
wings on olive-spray. Signature ΖΟΡ.
Period VII. Circ. B.C. 281-272.
Similar types; but the owl has sometimes open wings and stands on
fulmen or serpent. Among the signatures which also occur on con-
Similar types; but owl usually with closed wings and standing
on olive-branch; fulmen, anchor, bucranium, Ionic capital, etc. The
signatures occurring also on staters of this period, and as a rule accompanied by the same symbols, are ΑΡΙCΤΙC Anchor; ΑΡΙΣΤΟΚΡΑΤΗΣ
Term; ├ΗΡΑΚΛΗΤΟΣ Kantharos; ├ΙΣΤΙΑΡΧΟΣ Grapes; ΛΕΩΝ;
ΝΙΚΟΚΡΑΤΗΣ ΑΝ Ionic capital.
Period IX. Circ. B.C. 235-228.
Similar types. Owl with closed wings on olive-spray. Signature
ΟΛΥΜΠΙΣ Wreath.
Period X. Circ. B.C. 212-209.
For the drachms (?) with didrachm types of this period see supra.
BRONZE COINS. Circ. B.C. 300-228.
The bronze coinage of Tarentum was of no great importance and may
be all attributed to a late period; see M. P. Vlasto, Journ. Int. d'Arch.
Num., 1899, 1 sqq. The following are the chief types:—
Uxentum (Ugento). This town is not mentioned in history. It was
situated near the extremity of the Iapygian promontory. No coins
are supposed to have been struck there before the Roman period.
Those that are known are all of bronze and usually bear marks of value
which, when the weights are also taken into account, show that they
follow the semuncial system, dating therefore from circ. B.C. 89.
Home
(
, ΕΥ, ΖΟΡ, etc., now occupy positions
of secondary importance to those of the chief civic magistrates. The
types of the didrachms, though more varied than in the previous period,
still exhibit the same general designs of the rider as a jockey or as an
armed cavalier. The horse in one instance (Evans, Pl. VII. 4) is
welcomed and embraced by 
ΣΑΛΩΝΟΣ
and Ζ 
ΦΙΛΟΚΡΑ
ΚΥΝΩΝ Bearded mask.
ΦΙΛΟΚΛΗC 
pilos ΙΕΝΟΚΡΑΤΗC
ΚΑΛΛΙΚΡΑΤΗΣ
„ 
