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Obol
| Issuer | Metapontion |
|---|---|
| Year | 425 BC - 350 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Obol (⅙) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A meticulously detailed six-grained ear of barley, the city's principal civic emblem, is depicted upright with a single leaf extending to the right, alluding to Metapontion's agricultural prosperity. To the left of the stalk in the field stands a herm facing right, serving as a subsidiary symbol. The divided ethnic legend Μ - Ε, an abbreviated form of ΜΕΤΑΠΟΝΤΙΝΩΝ, appears in the field flanking the central device, referencing the issuing city. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Μ - Ε |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Metapontion's bronze coinage of this period was a civic currency — fiduciary token money intended for small local transactions in a city whose silver staters were circulating far beyond its borders as trusted trade coin. The bronze existed precisely because the silver was too valuable to break for daily commerce in the agora.
The HN Italy 1641 attribution places this firmly within the city's mid-classical municipal issues, a series struck as Metapontion navigated the complex politics of Magna Graecia between Tarentine dominance and the lingering demographic pressures following the destruction of Sybaris.