Drachm

Metapontion, the prosperous Achaean colony on the Gulf of Taranto, was one of the wealthiest cities in Magna Graecia during the fourth century — the same city where Pythagoras reportedly spent his final years and died, around 495 BC. By the late fourth century, the city's agricultural surplus, particularly its barley harvest, underpinned a coinage tradition among the most consistent in the region. The incuse technique of the archaic series had long since been abandoned, but the dies of this period reflect the influence of itinerant engravers working across multiple South Italian mints simultaneously.