Catalog
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| Issuer | Siris |
|---|---|
| Year | 520 BC |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 8.94 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Deep incuse square with two diagonal raised bands crossing at the centre, forming an X-shaped or saltire division of the quadrilateral. The incuse technique, characteristic of early South Italian (Achaean) coinage, produces strongly recessed flat-bottomed triangular quadrants framed by a squared incuse border. No legend or additional device is present. |
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| Mintage | ND (-520) |
| Additional information |
Siris was a Greek colony on the Tarentine Gulf destroyed by a coalition of neighboring cities — Metapontum, Sybaris, and Kroton — around 530 BC, making any coinage attributed to it a matter of genuine scholarly dispute. If the dating holds, these staters were struck by a city already in its death throes or possibly by its successor settlement. The attribution to Siris rather than early Pyxous or a related Lucanian foundation remains contested among specialists.
The Boston MFA and ANS examples anchor the type's authenticity, but the survival rate is exceptionally low.