Bruttium, Kroton AR Stater. Circa 530-500 BC. Tripod, legs terminating in lion's paws, two serpents at base; QPO to left / Incuse tripod, legs terminating in lion's paws. Attianese 4; SNG ANS 239-241; HN Italy 2075; HGC 1, 1444. 8.27g, 28mm, 12h.

Fleur De Coin.

From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XIV, 21 September 2017, lot 34;
Ex private North American Collection.

In terms of quality, this coin is easily among the best preserved of its series that has been seen at auction in a great many years, and it represents one of the very finest surviving incuse staters of Kroton - it must have been virtually fresh from the die when lost or deposited over two and a half millennia ago.

The importance of the Delphic oracle to the founding of Kroton was celebrated on its coinage from the earliest days. Despite later myths ascribing the founding of Kroton to Herakles, the city's historical oikist is recorded as Myskellos of Rhypai who, on consulting the Delphic oracle about his lack of children, was given the response that Apollo would grant children, but that first Myskellos should found the city of Kroton "among fair fields". After being given directions on how to locate the site, Myskellos travelled to southern Italy to explore the land that he had been assigned, but seeing the territory of the Sybarites and thinking it superior, he returned once more to the oracle to ask whether he would be allowed to change. The answer came back that he should accept the gifts that the god gave him.

A further element of the story is that Myskellos was accompanied on his expedition by Archias of Corinth; the Delphic oracle gave the pair the choice between health and wealth. Archias elected wealth, and was assigned the site of Syracuse, while Myskellos chose health: the favourable climate of Kroton, the eminent skill of its physicians and the prowess of its athletes later earned its citizens this reputation for good health.