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 | 350 BC - 300 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Round (irregular) |
| 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 | Helmeted head of Athena facing right, wearing a crested Attic helmet adorned with an olive wreath and decorated cheekpieces. The goddess is depicted in high relief with finely rendered curling locks of hair emerging beneath the helmet. The bust is draped, and the large flowing crest of the helmet extends prominently across the upper field. The overall style reflects the skilled die-engraving tradition of Magna Graecia in the late Classical period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Thourioi was founded in 444/3 BC as an Athenian-backed Panhellenic colony on the site of destroyed Sybaris — Herodotus and Protagoras were among its early settlers. By the late fourth century, when this distater was struck, the city was navigating persistent pressure from Lucanian tribes pushing down from the interior, a threat that would eventually force Thourioi to invite Roman military intervention in 282 BC. That decision pulled Rome into direct conflict with Tarentum and set off the chain of events leading to the Pyrrhic War.
HN Italy 1843 places this piece among the later, more prolific distater issues, struck as the city's autonomy was visibly narrowing.