Metapontion's grain economy dominated the Tarentine Gulf for centuries, and the nomos series reflects a city that was genuinely wealthy rather than aspirationally so. By the time this piece was struck, the city had already survived the Oscan invasions of the late fifth century and the upheavals of the Second Samnite War, emerging with its mint largely intact. Production of the nomos was winding down in this decade, as Pyrrhus of Epirus was consolidating influence across Magna Graecia — within a generation, Metapontion's independent coinage would effectively cease.
HN Italy 1613 places this issue among the latest of the civic nomoi series.
Metapontion's grain economy dominated the Tarentine Gulf for centuries, and the nomos series reflects a city that was genuinely wealthy rather than aspirationally so. By the time this piece was struck, the city had already survived the Oscan invasions of the late fifth century and the upheavals of the Second Samnite War, emerging with its mint largely intact. Production of the nomos was winding down in this decade, as Pyrrhus of Epirus was consolidating influence across Magna Graecia — within a generation, Metapontion's independent coinage would effectively cease.
HN Italy 1613 places this issue among the latest of the civic nomoi series.