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Nomos
| Issuer | Sybaris |
|---|---|
| Year | 550 BC - 510 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | VM |
| Reverse description | Incuse bull standing left, head turned back to right, the design being a mirror-image counterpart of the obverse type sunk in intaglio relief — the hallmark technique of early South Italian Achaean coinage. The bull's mane is rendered with finely incised striations, and a dotted exergual line is visible beneath the figure. The field surrounding the bull retains a slightly granular surface typical of the incuse method. The whole is enclosed within a beaded border consistent with the obverse. |
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| Additional information |
Sybaris was, by the mid-sixth century BC, among the wealthiest cities in the Greek world — ancient sources credit it with a population of 300,000, almost certainly exaggerated, but indicative of its commercial reach across the Tyrrhenian and Ionian coasts. The city's prosperity rested on overland trade with Miletus and the Etruscan interior, bypassing Rhegion entirely. When Croton destroyed Sybaris in 510 BC, diverting the river Crathis over the ruins, the coinage ceased abruptly.
The incuse technique used on this nomos — shared among a handful of Achaean colonies in Magna Graecia — remains poorly explained. No literary source accounts for its adoption.