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Stater
| Issuer | Tarentum |
|---|---|
| Year | 281 BC - 276 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Head of Herakles in right profile, wearing the lionskin headdress with the scalp pulled over the crown and the jaws framing the face, rendered in high relief with finely modelled curling locks emerging from beneath the pelt. The muscular facial features are rendered with vigorous plasticity characteristic of late Classical South Italian die-cutting. The field is plain, with no legend or inscription. |
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| Mintage | ND (281 BC - 276 BC) |
| Additional information |
This issue falls within the period of Tarentum's most desperate gamble: the invitation of Pyrrhus of Epirus to intervene against Rome. The city had already clashed with a Roman naval squadron in the harbor in 282 BC — sinking several ships and killing an admiral — and needed a champion. Pyrrhus arrived in 280 BC with war elephants and a professional Hellenistic army, winning at Heraclea and Asculum at costs so steep they gave the language a new phrase.
Gold coinage from Tarentum in this window almost certainly served as military pay rather than domestic commerce. The city was financing a foreign king's campaign on Italian soil.