Nomos

Metapontion's prosperity in this period rested almost entirely on grain — the city's fertile Tarentine Gulf hinterland made it one of the wealthiest agricultural centers in Magna Graecia, and the nomos was effectively the instrument of that trade. The reference cluster this piece attracts, spanning Noe, the ANS collection, and multiple major private holdings, reflects how systematically collectors have pursued the series since Arthur Sambon's foundational work in the late nineteenth century.

Noe 449 falls within a well-documented die sequence showing progressive refinement through the mid-fourth century.