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Drachm
| Issuer | Metapontion |
|---|---|
| Year | 440 BC - 430 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | A prominent barley ear (stalk of grain) depicted in high relief, oriented vertically with the head uppermost, rendered with finely articulated individual grains along the central rachis and flanking lateral spikelets. The legend META appears in Greek characters to the right of the stalk, identifying the issuing city of Metapontion. The barley ear served as the principal civic emblem of Metapontion, a city renowned for its agricultural prosperity in Magna Graecia, and its bold, naturalistic rendering reflects the accomplished die-cutting style of the Classical period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | META |
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| Additional information |
Metapontion's silver coinage from this decade reflects the city's position as one of the wealthiest Greek settlements in Magna Graecia, its prosperity built almost entirely on grain surpluses from the exceptionally fertile Tarentine plain. The city maintained enough independent monetary authority to produce a consistent and technically accomplished silver series throughout the fifth century, even as neighboring poleis faced pressure from Tarentum and the expanding Lucanian tribes to the north.
Noe 320 places this piece within a tightly sequenced die study — Sydney Noe's 1927 monograph on Metapontine coinage remains the foundational reference for attributing these issues to specific chronological phases.