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Taras, Calabria, Italy, c. 385 - 380 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 nul|lified and the sons were obliged to leave Greece forever. Their leader, Phalanthus, 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.GS95128. Silver nomos, Fischer-Bossert 930, SNG ANS 1012, Vlasto 634, aEF, centered on a tight flan, die wear/damage, Taras (Taranto, Italy) mint, weight 7.805g, maximum diameter 21.1mm, die axis 180o, c. 385 - 380 B.C.; obverse horseman right, nude, circular shield on left arm, two couched spears in left hand, a third spear in his raised right hand, E-Π-A clockwise above, API below horse's belly; reverse Taras astride a dolphin left, kantharos in right, oar behind in left hand, KA upper left, TAPAΣ curving downward on right; from the CEB Collection; SOLD
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