CALABRIA. Tarentum. Ca. 450 BC. AR didrachm (21mm, 8.19 gm, 6h). NGC Choice AU S 5/5 - 3/5. TAPAΣ (retrograde), Taras astride dolphin right, both arms outstretched; scallop shell below / Head of nymph Satyra right, wearing broad diadem, hair in long braid turned upward behind; all within olive wreath. HN Italy 838. Vlasto 154 (these dies). Jameson 2389 (these dies). Cahn, Chronology 65. de Luynes 268 (these dies). Holloway 3 enlarged p. 96 (this coin). Fischer-Bossert 130a (this coin). Extremely rare and likely the finest example extant. From the Paramount Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 13 (8 October 1998), lot 77 Satyra was the daughter of King Minos, who met with Poseidon and bore him his son, Taras. Antiochus, reporting from the Delphian oracle (apud Strab. VI 3,2), stated to Phalanthus "To thee Satyrium I have given, and the rich country of Tarentum to inhabit, and thou shalt become a scourge to the Iapygians." Phalanthus and the Parthenae settled Satyrium (named for Satyra - modern day Saturno on the southeast coast of Leoprano), which recent findings appear to indicate was the oldest Laconian site in Apulia.

HID09801242017

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