Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Distater
| Issuer | Thourioi |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 350 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Distater (6) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Facing left, the helmeted head of Athena is rendered in high relief with accomplished die-cutting characteristic of the Thourian series. The goddess wears an Attic helmet whose bowl is elaborately decorated with a Scylla figure — the mythological sea-creature depicted with a human upper body and serpentine lower extremities — serving as the helmet's crest ornament. Flowing locks of hair emerge beneath the helmet's cheekpieces and fall along the neck, conveying a naturalistic, idealized aesthetic consistent with South Italian Greek coinage of the early fourth century BC. The flan is broad and the relief bold, with fine detail preserved in the facial features and helmet decoration. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Thourioi was a Panhellenic colony founded in 444/3 BC at the instigation of Pericles on the site of destroyed Sybaris, with Herodotus reportedly among its early settlers. The city's coinage reflects its ambitions as a prestige colonial foundation rather than a regional backwater. The distater — double the standard stater weight — was a denomination reserved for major transactions and interstate commerce, not everyday use, which partly explains why surviving examples see comparatively honest surfaces despite their age.
The reference to GCV#441 aligns this piece with the mature phase of Thouriian silver production, after the city had survived early internal factional conflict between Athenian and Spartan sympathizers during the Peloponnesian War years.