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Didrachm
| Issuer | Velia |
|---|---|
| Year | 300 BC - 280 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 7.48 g |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Helmeted head of Athena facing right, rendered in fine high relief in the Italiote style. The Attic helmet is richly adorned with a long leafy wreath and berry clusters along the bowl, surmounted by a prominent crest-holder from which issues a flowing plume. A swan's head projects forward from the crest-holder, serving as a distinctive Velian die-engraver's symbol. The cheek-guards frame the goddess's finely modelled features with accomplished artistry characteristic of the late Phi Group dies. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Velia — the Greek colony founded as Elea on the Tyrrhenian coast of Lucania around 540 BC by Phocaean refugees fleeing the Persian conquest of Ionia — produced some of the most technically accomplished silver coinage in the western Greek world. By the late fourth century, the city's mint had developed the so-called "phi style," named for the workshop signature appearing on certain dies, representing a level of engraving sophistication that placed Velian coinage well above its regional neighbors.
Williams 385 falls within a well-documented die sequence. Velia never dominated politically, but its coinage circulated widely enough to appear in hoards from Sicily to Campania.