Siris and Pyxus
Stater circa 540-510, AR 7.34 g. ΣIΡI / NOΣ retrograde in archaic characters below and above the exergual line Bull walking l., looking backwards. Rev. ΠVX retrograde The same type r. in incuse. Traité 2083 (this obverse die). AMB 165 (these dies). Mangieri, RIN 1981, A1 (these dies). Gorini 1 (these dies). Historia Numorum Italy 1723. Very rare and in exceptional condition for this difficult, intriguing and historically important issue. Of superb Archaic style and, in our opinion, from the finest dies of the series. Lovely light iridescent tone, minor area of weakness on obverse, otherwise extremely fine From a private European collection and privately purchased from NAC in 1995. This nomos bears witness to the alliance between "Sirinos" and "Pyx" (the two legends appear engraved in the centre of the obverse of the coin and in the lower quadrant on the reverse respectively). The word "Sirinos" was thought at one time to be the adjective relating to Siri, the city on the Ionian coast which was well known for its wealth and which was destroyed by the coalition of Sybaris, Metapontum and Croton in the years 570-560. Paola Zancani Montuoro, however, believes that the word in question is a noun and, for a variety of reasons, argues that a city called "Sirinos" (of the Sirini, a population from Lucania of which Pliny the Elder speaks in his "Naturalis historia" III 15, 97) existed and was situated about 30 km from Policastro. It has probably been identified in the ruins of a vast inhabited area on a rocky peak which stretches along the valley of Lauria near Rivello and which is still known as "The City". Policastro Bussentino is the modern name for "Pyx" (Pyxoes), the ancient Lucanian city (on the eponymous bay of Tirreno, now known as the gulf of Policastro, in the province of Salerno). The alliance of the two cities, based on commerce, testifies to Pixunte's importance for Sybari's commercial activity in the VI century (bear in mind that literary sources date its foundation by Micitus to 471). The bull looking backwards, and the coin's weight, are typical of Sybaritic coins.