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Nomos - Zopyrion
| Issuer | Tarentum |
|---|---|
| Year | 240 BC - 228 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | HN Italy#1054, SNG ANS 1#1246, SNG Lloyd#225, Vlasto#940-941 |
| Obverse description | Nude ephebic youth seated on horseback advancing to right, rendered in fine Italiote style; the magistrate's name ΖΩΠΥΡΙΩΝ inscribed in the lower field below the horse. Beneath the forelegs, the control letters ΣΩ appear above a bucranium (ox skull), serving as secondary control marks. The horse is depicted with naturalistic musculature, characteristic of the high-quality die engraving associated with late Tarentine coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | ΖΩΠΥΡΙΩΝ ΣΩ |
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| Additional information |
By the 240s BC, Tarentum was a city diminished. The Pyrrhic adventure had failed, Rome had taken the city in 272 BC, and the once-dominant Greek colony in southern Italy was producing coinage under conditions of political subordination rather than the civic confidence that had defined its earlier nomoi. The magistrate name Zopyrion appears on a small cluster of issues from this compressed terminal phase of Tarentine silver production, catalogued by Vlasto at 940–941.
These late nomoi are notably lighter than the classical Tarentine standard, reflecting either deliberate debasement of weight norms or the economic realities of a treasury no longer flush with trade revenue from the Adriatic.