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Stater
| Issuer | Tarentum |
|---|---|
| Year | 302 BC - 300 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Gold Stater (20) |
| 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 |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Head of a youthful male deity, most likely Apollo, facing right, rendered in fine Hellenistic style with elaborately detailed, flowing curls and a wreath of laurel in the hair. A long sceptre or thyrsus appears behind the head to the left. The portrait is executed with considerable artistic refinement, the facial features displaying the idealized naturalism characteristic of late 4th-century Greek coinage from Magna Graecia. The legend TAPA NΩY appears in the field referencing the city of Taras. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Tarentum struck gold only under extreme duress. This issue dates to the crisis precipitated by the advance of the Italic peoples — specifically the Lucanians and Messapians — against which Tarentum hired the Spartan king Cleonymus in 303 BC with a fleet and mercenary army. The gold coinage of this precise window almost certainly funded that contract directly; Tarentum's civic finances ran on silver, and gold issues are rare enough that each one corresponds to a documented military emergency rather than routine treasury activity.
Vlasto 22 is a tightly defined variety within a small group.