Calabria, Tarentum

Nomos circa 510-450, AR 27 mm, 7.46 g. TARAS retrograde Dolphin rider seated r., left arm extended; below, shell. Rev. The same type l. incuse. Vlasto 63. Fischer-Bossert 7. De Nanteuil 74. Historia Numorum Italy 826.
Very rare. Light iridescent tone and good very fine

From a Scandinavian private collection.
Dating from the late sixth century, this nomos shows Phalantus naked, riding a dolphin, expressing a motif destined for popular success in the coins of Taras: the dolphin brings Phalantus safe and sound across the sea (also evidenced by the presence of a pecten in the lower field of the coin), and conveys him to Italy, according to the dictate of the Delphic oracle. We learn from the Periegesis of Greece of Pausania (II cent. A.D.) that statues of Taras, Phalantus, and Phalantus’ dolphin (cf. Paus. X 13) were among the votive offerings (anathemata) presented to Delphi by the Tarantines with a fifth of the spoils taken from the Peucetii and the Iapygians. The reverse has the same representation as the obverse, in incuse, using a well-known technique of early coinage that was deployed at many other Southern Italian cities besides Taras.