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   View Categories Home > Catalog > |Greek Coins| > |Geographic - All Periods| > |Italy| > GS85114
Taras, Calabria, Italy, c. 280 - 272 B.C.
|Italy|, |Taras,| |Calabria,| |Italy,| |c.| |280| |-| |272| |B.C.|, Taras, the only Spartan colony, was founded in 706 B.C. The founders were Partheniae ("sons of virgins"), sons of unmarried Spartan women and Perioeci (free men, but not citizens of Sparta). These out-of-wedlock unions were permitted to increase the prospective number of soldiers (only the citizens could be soldiers) during the bloody Messenian wars. Later, however, when they were no longer needed, their citizenship was retroactively nullified and the sons were obliged to leave Greece forever. Their leader, Phalanthos, consulted the oracle at Delphi and was told to make the harbor of Taranto their home. They named the city Taras after the son of Poseidon, and of a local nymph, Satyrion. The reverse depicts Taras being saved from a shipwreck by a dolphin sent to him by Poseidon. This symbol of the ancient Greek city is still the symbol of modern Taranto today.
GS85114. Silver nomos, Vlasto 739 ff., HN Italy 1006, SNG ANS 1106 ff., SNG BnF 1904 ff., SNG Munchen 669 ff., SNG Lloyd 206, Dewing 211, EF, lovely old cabinet toning with hints of iridescence, well centered, beautiful depiction of Phalanthos, some obverse die wear, Taras (Taranto, Italy) mint, weight 6.537g, maximum diameter 22.8mm, die axis 45o, magistrates Zo…, Neyme…, & Poly…, c. 280-272 B.C.; obverse nude youth on horseback right crowning horse with wreath; magistrates' names ZΩ above and NEY/MH in two lines below; reverse Taras (or Phalanthos) astride dolphin left, nude, legs crossed, helmet in extended right hand, stars flanking before and behind, magistrates name ΠOΛY above right, TAPAΣ below; ex Goldberg auction 96, lot 1498; SOLD











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