In order to understand Laos, we first have to understand Sybaris and also Sirinos-Pyxoes.
The
bull is in the process of being converted, it is turning _from_ left, _to_ right. We can see this
better on the coinage of Sirinos-Pyxoes, where the
writing is
boustrephedon, or as the
bull turns. This kind of
writing is from right to left in one line, then left to right, going both in the "normal" direction and then retrograde (and then normal, retro, normal, etc.) For the particular Sirinos Pyxoes
stater to which I am referring, the
ethnic begins in
exergue, going in the same direction the bull's body is going, in retrograde N I R I S, the
ethnic then turns with the bull's
head and in front of
his nose, reads going the "normal" direction O S. The
bull is not just looking back over
his shoulder, but is in the process of turning around, from the left to the right.
We actually have a story of a
bull of Pythagoras being converted, in this case the story is set in Tarentum, but it makes more sense to believe that the story was originally from Sybaris, but changed in location when Sybaris installed a (democratic) tyrant who persecuted the aristocracy and (supposedly) the Pythagoreans. Beans are a symbol of voting and
democracy.
(61) At Taras he [Pythagoras] saw an ox, in a
field of mixed fodder, munching on ripe beans as well. He went over to the oxherd and advised him to tell the ox to abstain from beans. The oxherd made fun of
his suggestion. "I don't speak Ox," he said, "and if you do you're wasting your advice on me: you should warn the ox." So Pythagoras went up and spent a long time whispering in the bull's ear. The
bull promptly stopped eating the bean-plant, of
his own accord, and they say he never at beans again. He lived to a very great age at Taras, growing old in the temple of
Hera. Everyone called him "Pythagoras' holy
bull" and he ate a human diet, offered him by the people who
met him. (Iamblichus, On the Pythagorean Life, tr. by Gillian
Clark).
From what is the
bull is being converted, and to what is he being converted? Just look at all the negative connotations that the direction left has (sinister, gauche) to all the positive connotations the direction right has. One of the left labels on the list (Aristotle actually has a list of 10 opposites, assigned to the Pythagoreans, see
his Metaphysics, book A), is evil, another is the many which in democratic terms becomes the hoi polloi. So the
bull in the story gets converted from a life of, what we would call, "sin," to being a model Pythagorean who will have nothing to do with beans.
But in reality the
bull was not content with just following the Pythagorean way, there was a democratic coup in Sybaris which installed the tyrant Telys into power, and two years later war broke out, and Sybaris I was destroyed.
Looking at the numismatic record, I believe that it was during this short democratic phase that coinage continued and we see on the one hand, secondary
symbols such as wreathes or branches, and on the other hand, the workmanship on the
bull becomes quite crude. In 510 however, Sybaris I falls to the Krotoniates, and not coincidently, the Etruscan kingship (Tarquinus Superbus) falls in
Rome. Refugees flee to Poseidonia, Laos and Skidros. A new regime is installed in Sybaris, probably lead by aristocrats who
had fled the democratic regime of Telys. Miletus mourns the destruction of Sybaris I, but when Miletus falls in 493 Laos and Skidros do not mourn, (Herodotus) perhaps because Miletus
had gone back to business as usual when the new regime was installed at Sybaris II.
I should also point out that I think the
bull on the coins of Sybaris is not a
river god, but represents
Zeus of Mt. Ida, the Cretan
Zeus. The belief that the
bull is a
river god is based on the
river god on the coins of Laos and later Thurian coins which have
fish in
exergue. The coins of Laos, however, are really the exact opposite of the Sybarite bulls, whereas I see the addition of
fish as an attempt to change the significance of the coin. Offhand, I do not know if there are in literary sources that mention the significance of Thurium's
type.
Sybaris I has a
bull going from left to right, being converted away from
democracy to a rule of the best (aristocracy), Laos on the other hand, has a man-headed
bull going from the right, turning to the left. Away from Aristocracy to
Democracy. It is conscious reversal of the Sybaris
type. Also, you don't get more universal than
Zeus in Greek polytheism, you can get more specific as far getting into gods or goddesses of a particular place than a
river god, but a nymph would not have such a wonderful juxtaposition as this
river god. It says 'you can go the other way, but we, here, are going to do it this way, the democratic way.' 'Not only that but our name itself shows that we are for the people.' Laos means "the people at large," albeit distinct from the demos= the body politic. Liddell Scott Greek English lexicon.
but that doesn't answer your question, maybe Laos coins represent a pro-democratic heretical sect of "Pythagoreans." There were such groups. Maybe all the die engravers in the
area were trained in the
incuse style, the crude "imitations" shown and discussed by
Noe, might be practice dies from a die engraving school.
I don't know. But I can tell the democratic man-headed
bull is "playing off" of the symbolism of the Sybarite
bull. I can tell that much. Whether they are a
part of the Pythagorean dialogue or apart from the Pythagorea dialogue, I can' tell. I think that the Pythagoreans
had a plan concerning what
types for coins they wanted, but I don't think that that plan survived unscathed and was implemented completely. Laos may be an abberation, it may mess the whole Pythagorean "message" up, but it couldn't do that if it wasn't
incuse. It is like a little guy giving the great Pythagorean system, the finger. "Yes, there are great gods, but there are little gods too and we're going to support the little guy."
As far as making a coin is concerned, the Pythagoreans did not have total control of the process, they
still had to deal with the politics on the local level. Could they have suggested something besides Poseidon for Poseidonia? probably not. Why did the
Apollo Hyakinthios
type at Tarentum last for such a short time? How does the man-headed
bull of Rhegium fit in with the other
incuse coins? Or does it? How does the introduction of the Chalcidian
standard fit with the picture? I don't know. Laos fits in, but perhaps only as a counterargument to Sybaris. Or do these two as "opposites," however, "fit in" in a different way with Poseidonia and Kaulonia, which are also "opposites" or the
Apollo Hyakinthios and the dolphin-rider of Tarentum, which are also a pair saying something about friendship, another Pythagorean ideal? I cannot tell what the politics behind the Laos
stater were, but I can tell it must have been interesting. It is like a "Pythagorean" anti-Pythagorean coin which means we probably need to rethink what a Pythagorean was. Or in other words, there are a lot of people in the Archaic and classic period who intellectually come out Pythagoreanism, but are not Pythagoreans in our narrow sense of the term. The
incuse coinage of Laos may be a result of those people, I don't absolutely know. I'm
still looking, and I'm open to suggestions.
Kind Regards,
JBF