weight 8,05gr. | silver Ø 19mm.

obv. Phalanthos, nude,  riding dolphin to right, his left arm outstretched
to right with his hand open, and holding behind him, in his right hand,
an octopus, T A P A ≀ around, all within cable border.
rev. Hippocamp to right, below scallop, T A P A ≀ anti-clockwise around,
all within border of rays.

Taras was founded in 706 BC by Dorian immigrants as the only Spartan colony, and its origin is peculiar: the founders were Partheniae, sons of unmarried Spartan women and perioeci (free men, but not citizens of Sparta) these unions were decreed by the Spartans to increase the number of soldiers (only the citizens of Sparta could become soldiers) during the bloody First Messenian War, but later they were nullified, and the sons were forced to leave. According to the legend Phalanthus, the Parthenian leader, went to Delphi to consult the oracle and received the puzzling answer that he should found a city where rain fell from a clear sky. After all attempts to capture a suitable place to found a colony failed, he became despondent, convinced that the oracle had told him something that was impossible, and was consoled by his wife. She laid his head in her lap and herself became disconsolate. When Phalanthus felt her tears splash onto his forehead he at last grasped the meaning of the oracle, for his wife′s name meant clear sky. The harbour of a settlement in Calabria was nearby and he decided this must be the new home for the exiles. The Partheniae arrived and founded the city, naming it Taras after the son of the Greek sea god, Poseidon, and the local nymph Satyrion. Symbol of the Greek is Phalanthos riding a dolphin. Taras increased its power, becoming a commercial power and a sovereign city of Magna Graecia, ruling over the Greek colonies in southern Italy.

We know that circa 492 BC Aristophilides was King of Taras. He had good contacts with the city of Knidos and with King Darius the Great of Persia. It is likely that this nomos was minted during his reign.

This is a remarkably well-preserved example of an early stater (nomos) of Taras. The obverse figure of Phalanthos is a true masterpiece of late archaic/early classical Greek art not surprising since Taras was, of course, a major center for the production of art objects of all kinds, especially metal work (the Vix Krater is believed to have been made there a few decades before this coin was struck). Very rare.

cf. Nomos, auction16, 10 may 2018, lot 10 (good vf  SFR  15.000 + 20%)

BMC 44var. | SNG.Copenhagen 774var. | SNG.Paris 1577-1578var.
Vlasto 116-117var. | SNG.München 602var. | McClean 536var.
Fischer-Bossert 55 (same dies) | Historia Numorum, Italy 827 RR
vf+/vf

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