Temesa
Nomos circa 450, AR 7.78 g. Tripod with three handles, legs ending in lions paws; on either side, grave. Rev. Crested Corinthian helmet r.; below, TEM. Stazio pl. 21, 9. Garrucci pl. CXVI, 27. Jameson 464 (these dies). AMB 234 (these dies). Historia Numorum Italy –. Extremely rare. A very important and intriguing issue known in less than ten specimens. Lovely light iridescent tone, obverse slightly off-centre, otherwise good very fine / about extremely fine From a private Swiss collection. Little is known about the city of Temesa although it was reputed to have been an old Greek settlement in Bruttium going back to the aftermath of the Trojan War when Odysseus and his companions made their long and circuitous journey home. One such companion was a certain Polites who was said to have founded Temesa. While Temesa enjoyed wealth derived from a nearby copper mine, it is said to have been haunted by the shade of the dead Polites, which attacked passersby in the night. The ghost of the citys founder was only put to rest at last in the fifth century BC, when the Olympic athlete Euthymos of Lokroi Epizephyrioi defeated it in a spectral wrestling match. Temesa seems not to have been an independent city. It was originally subject to the luxurious city of Sybaris before it was destroyed by Kroton and its allies in ca. 510 BC. Temesa was subsequently dominated by Kroton. Although the power of Kroton was waning in the mid-fifth century BC when this coin was struck, the obverse type reflects the citys continued influence at Temesa. Kroton regularly employed a tripod as its civic badge. Alternatively, this type may indicate some form of alliance between Temesa and Kroton. Other issues like HN Italy 2122 feature the same tripod and helmet types as well as abbreviated epichoric Greek legends that seem to name both cities.