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Nomos
| Issuer | Tarentum |
|---|---|
| Year | 344 BC - 340 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Nude ephebe (youth) shown in the act of dismounting or vaulting from a horse cantering to left; the rider's right knee rests upon the horse's back while his left leg hangs down, his left hand grasping a small round shield and a lance, and his right hand holding the reins. A control mark in the form of the letter digamma (⊣) appears in the exergue below the horse. The scene is rendered in the fluid, energetic style characteristic of Tarentine coinage of the mid-4th century BC. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The city's mythological founder Phalanthos depicted nude, riding a dolphin to left; in his outstretched right hand he holds a crested Corinthian helmet, while his left hand rests upon the dolphin's back. Wave patterns appear in the lower field beneath the dolphin, evoking the sea. The ethnic legend TAPAΣ is inscribed in the field, referencing the city of Taras (Tarentum), presented in the archaic Greek epichoric script typical of South Italian mint issues of this period. |
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| Additional information |
Tarentum's silver nomoi from this period fall within a politically volatile stretch for the city — the 340s BC saw Tarentum repeatedly threatened by the Messapians and Lucanians, pressures that eventually led the city to hire Archidamas III of Sparta as a mercenary commander in 342 BC. He died fighting in southern Italy in 338 BC, the same day, ancient sources claim, as the Battle of Chaeronea. Whether the city's mint output fluctuated around his campaigns is difficult to establish from die studies alone, but the Vlasto sequence places this issue squarely in that turbulent window.