Ancient coinage of Bruttium (original) (raw)

The history of the coinage of the Bruttian peninsula falls into the following clearly marked divisions:—

(i) The archaic money of Croton, Caulonia, and Rhegium, before B.C. 480.

(ii) The rich and varied issues of these same towns, together with the exquisite productions of the Pandosian and Terinaean mints, extending through the finest period of Greek art down to the time of the invasion of the Lucanians, and the destruction inflicted upon the cities of Magna Graecia by the Tyrant of Syracuse, circ. B.C. 388. Of all the silver-coining states Croton alone survived the general ruin of that calamitous time.

(iii) The Locrian mint next rises into importance, about the middle of the fourth century B.C., and, with Croton, provides a sufficient supply of silver money for all Bruttium until the time of the Pyrrhic war, while for the commerce with Sicily the Corinthian stater was adopted as the most convenient medium of exchange. These coins were issued in large numbers at Locri, and scantily at the then dependent towns of Rhegium, Terina, and Mesma or Medma.

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(iv) After B.C. 272 the Bruttians, on their submission to Rome, seem to have been allowed to monopolize the right of minting gold and silver, the very rare silver coins of Rhegium which belong to this period being, as their weight shows, only intended for the Sicilian trade. All the towns were, however, permitted to strike bronze money down to the close of the Second Punic War, B.C. 203.

(v) From this time onwards the bronze coinage of Petelia and Vibo Valentia, on the Roman semuncial system, with marks of value, and that of Rhegium on the standard of the Sicilian litra, were all that was left to replace the beautiful issues of past ages, until in B.C. 89 the Lex Plautia Papiria put an end to all coinage in Italy except that of Rome.

Bruttii. This people, the original inhabitants of the peninsula which afterwards bore their name, made themselves independent of the Lucanians in B.C. 356. In process of time they conquered several of the Greek coast-towns, and, as their coins testify, acquired the language and, to some extent, the arts, religion, and civilization of the Greeks.

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The series of their coins, in gold, in silver, and in bronze, begins about the time of the Pyrrhic war, when they formed an alliance with the Lucanians against Rome, circ. B.C. 282, or, at any rate, not very long afterwards, for some of their coin-types are copied from those of Pyrrhus.

Their submission to the Romans, in B.C. 272, does not seem to have involved the loss of the right of coinage; for it is certain that the Bruttian issues belong in the main to the period between B.C. 272 and 203, when, after the Hannibalic war, the Bruttians fell finally under the dominion of Rome. The coins of this people form one of the few exceptions to the monopoly exercised by Rome in the matter of the coinage of silver after B.C. 268 in Italy.

Circ. B.C. 282-203.

GOLD. Attic weight.

SILVER.

FIG. 49.

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The weight standard which these coins follow is identical with that of the silver coins of Pyrrhus struck in Italy. They correspond with Attic octobols and tetrobols.

BRONZE.

The bronze coins of the Bruttii are very numerous, the following being the principal varieties, and the sizes ranging from 1.15 to .45:—

The marine types on some of the Bruttian coins point to the worship of Poseidon, and especially of Thetis (Lycophron, 857 sqq.).

Caulonia, on the east coast of Bruttium, was an Achaean city of great antiquity, said by some to have been founded by Kaulos (Servius, ad Aen. iii. 553; cf. Steph. Byz. s. v. Καυλωνια), though by others Typhon of Aegium in Achaia is mentioned as its founder (Paus. vi. 3. 12). In the seventh century it was closely allied with both Croton and Sybaris, and, as the large numbers of its coins still extant prove, it must have been one of the most flourishing cities of the group (Polyb. ii. 29).

In B.C. 388 Caulonia was destroyed by Dionysius and its territory presented to the Locrians.

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SILVER. Circ. B.C. 550-480.

FIG. 50.

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Obv. ΚΑVΛΟ often abbreviated or retrograde. Naked male figure with hair in long ringlets advancing to right; in his uplifted right hand a stalk with pinnate leaves, and on his outstretched left arm a small running naked figure holding a similar plant in each hand, and wearing winged sandals. In field r. a stag. _Rev._Same type, incuse, but the small running figure usually wanting. (Fig. 50.)

Staters and Thirds of the Achaean standard.

This very remarkable type has elicited many hypotheses. Leake was of opinion that the lustral (?) branch points to a purification by Apollo. The type, he thought, might refer to some plague with which the Caulo- niates had been afflicted, and the cure of which they attributed to Apollo. Watkiss Lloyd (Num. Chron., 1848) thought that the principal figure was Apollo Katharsios, and that the smaller figure with winged feet was a wind-god. Cf. the name of one of the two mythical founders of Caulonia, Typhon, the father of all destructive and detrimental winds (Gardner, Types of Greek Coins, p. 85). Garrucci suggests that the principal figure may be an impersonation of the promontory Kokinthos and that the small figure which he carries may be that of the wind-god Zephyros.

None of these hypotheses can be said to carry conviction. For my own part I am inclined to believe that the original name of the town (Καυλων) may have had a simpler though humbler origin in καυλος, a vegetable with a single stalk, such for instance as the Pastinaca sativa, a tall erect plant the stalk of which is flanked by a row of pinnate leaves. The roots of this plant have been cultivated from very remote times as a valuable esculent. Subsequently, here as elsewhere, a nobler origin and an eponymous oekist would naturally be sought for and identified asΚαυλος, son of the Amazon Kleite; and the local plant would be assigned to him as an emblem, just as the σελινον leaf became the emblem of the eponymous hero of Selinus. On the coins of Caulonia the principal figure would thus represent the mythical founder holding in his raised right hand the παρασημον of the city, and on his left arm a small genius running at full speed and carrying apparently the same emblem in each hand. If the earliest coins of Caulonia, like those of so many other cities, were chiefly issued on special occasions, e. g. recurrent agonistic festivals (cf. Poseidonia with FIIΜ, and Metapontum with ΑΨΕΛ◇S◇ ΑΕΘΛ◇Ν), then the small running genius with winged feet may have been intended for a personification of Αγων or Hermesαγωνιος or δρομιος (B. C. H., xiii. 69; cf. Hill, J. H. S., 1897, 80, and Wroth,J. H. S., 1907, 92). Garrucci on one specimen engraved by him (Pl. CXXV. 17 and p. 186) reads the inscr. ΙΚΕ ΤΕΣΙ in small faint characters round the head of the principal figure on the obverse. If this inscr. be authentic and belong to the original die (which I very much doubt, not only on account of the forms of the sigma and iota) it might afford a valuable clue to the meaning of the type, and perhaps to the Dame of the Caulonian games; which may have been called‘Ικετησια.

The stag, which Macdonald (Coin Types, p. 133) regards as the actualπαρασημον of Caulonia, still awaits its explanation. It is noticeable that on numerous specimens it is accompanied by a stalk or sapling of theκαυλος plant springing from the ground (Hunter Cat., I. Pl. IX. 9; B. M. C., Italy, p. 337, 18).

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SILVER. Circ. B.C. 480-388.

FIG. 51.

Inscr. ΚΑVΛ, ΚΑVΛΟΝSΑΤΑΜ, ΚΑVΛΟΝSΑΤΑΝ, and later
ΚΑΥΛΩΝΙΑΤΑΣ; frequently retrograde.

There is also a small silver coin 7.6 grs. with a triskeles of running legs on Obv. and ΚΑVΛΟ on Rev. with three pellets on each side. This may be earlier than B.C. 480.

Consentia (Cosenza) was an inland town, situated among the hills near the sources of the river Krathis. Its coinage is wholly of bronze and be- longs to the period before the rise of the Bruttians (B.C. 356), who made Consentia their metropolis (Strab. vi. p. 256). The town is not men- tioned in history before the expedition of Alexander of Epirus, who lost his life in the vicinity (Livy viii. 24; Millingen, Num. de l'anc. Italie, p. 85).

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BRONZE. Circ. B.C. 400-356.

The river here represented may be the Krathis, or possibly, as the crab seems to suggest, the Karkines, which rises about twenty miles south of Consentia, and empties itself into the bay of Skylletion. The chance coincidence of this type and inscr. with the well-known παρασημονof the island of Cos is curious.

Croton (Cotrona) was founded in B.C. 710 by a colony of Achaeans from the mother country, led by Myskellos. The town stood near the mouth of the little river Aesaros, and a few miles north-west of the promontory on which stood the magnificent temple of the Lakinian Hera.

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The coinage here, as elsewhere in Magna Graecia, began about the middle of the sixth century. In fabric and weight it resembles the first issues of the other Achaean colonies, and furnishes striking evidence of the close relations which at that period existed among them. The terri- tory of Croton, like that of Sybaris, extended across the peninsula from sea to sea, and we note that some of its early incuse coins are struck in the joint names of Croton and some neighbouring town, e. g. VM(Sybaris), ΤΕ (Temesa?) and ΠΑΝΔΟ (Pandosia).

SILVER STATERS. Circ. B.C. 550-480.

FIG. 52.

Inscr. QΡΟ. QΡΟΤ. QΡΟΤΟ. QΡΟΤΟΝ. &c.

Some of these incuse coins, probably after they had passed out of circulation, were utilized as votive offerings, and bear subsequent graffiti, e.g. ├ΙΑΡΟNΤΟ ΑΠΟ and ΝIΚΑ (Babelon, Traité, p. 1451)

SILVER STATERS, ETC. Circ. B.C. 480-420.

Inscr. QΡΟ, &c. Both sides in relief.

Alliance Coins.

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Several other initial letters, supposed to stand for allied towns which have not been identified as such, are met with on Crotoniate coins of this period (cf. Babelon, Traité, p. 1458).

Circ. B.C. 420-390 0r later.

FIG. 53.

The obverse types of these staters may be compared with similar types on probably contemporary coins of Elis. The coins of both cities may have been issued for agonistic festivals in honour of Zeus.

SMALLER SILVER COINS.

Fifth century B.C.

QΡΟ or QΡΟ Tripod.	Sepia Diobol.
„ „	Pegasos. „
„ „	Half Pegasos. „ (?)
„ „	Kantharos. „
„ „	Hare. Obol.
„ „	„

It was towards the close of the fifth century, when Thurium was rising in importance in Southern Italy, that the Ionic Ω came into general use in the west. About this time also we note that the old letter Q is replaced by Κ on the coins of Croton.

Human figure types, of fully developed style, are in this period fre- quently met with. Some of these designs are of extreme beauty, and are perhaps due to the influence of the works of Zeuxis, who was painting at Croton about the end of the fifth century

Inscriptions. ΚΡΟ, ΚΡΟΤ, ΚΡΟΤΟΝ, ΚΡΟΤΩΝΙΑΤΑΝ, ΚΡΟΤΩΝΙΑΤΑΣ.

FIG. 54.

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The forms of the letters on the obverse of this stater are designedly archaic, as it is certainly much later in style than circ. B.C. 443, the time when the more recent forms Ι and Σ were introduced; cf. the coins of the later Sybaris, p. 85.

FIG. 55.

[Imhoof, Mon. gr., Pl. A. 4.]

Circ. B.C. 390.

About B.C. 390 the Greek cities of Southern Italy were threatened on the one hand by the Lucanians and on the other by Dionysius of Syracuse.

The league which they then formed for mutual defence against these two formidable enemies is alluded to in the type of the Crotoniate coinage of this time, a type which is the same as that of the contempo- rary money of Thebes and of the alliance coins of Ephesus, Samos, Cnidus, Byzantium, Iasus, and Rhodes. The idea of the infant Herakles strangling two serpents is symbolical of the victory of Light over Dark- ness, of Good over Evil, and of free and united Hellas over barbarism and tyranny. The wide popularity of this treatment of a familiar subject just at this particular time is further illustrated by the famous painting of Zeuxis, mentioned by Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxv. 9, s. 36, 2) as ‘Hercules infans dracones strangulans, Alcmena matre coram pavente et Amphitryone’. (See Holm, Griech. Gesch., III. p. 56 f.)

[Gardner, Types Gr. C., Pl. V. 16, 10.]

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The great defeat of the Confederates by Dionysius, in B.C. 388, at the river Helleporos, resulted in the ruin of most of the Greek cities of Bruttium, with the exception of Locri his only ally.

As for Croton, our information concerning its fate is scanty. Livy (xxiv. 3) says that Dionysius captured the citadel, and he is also said to have held the city for the space of twelve years (Dionys. Exc. xix). The latter statement is apparently confirmed by numismatic evidence, for there is a well-marked interval in style between the head of Apollo on the coins above described and the head of the same god on the pieces of the following series. It is therefore very probable that no coins were struck at Croton either during, or for some years after, its occupation by the foreign garrison.

Circ. B.C. 370-330.

These coins closely resemble in style the electrum money of Syracuse, issued probably in the time of Dion, B.C. 357-353.

From this time the city of Croton, involved in continual warfare with the Bruttians, became greatly impoverished, until in B.C. 299 it was captured and pillaged by Agathocles of Syracuse. In B.C. 277 it fell finally into the hands of the Romans.

Circ. B.C. 330-299.

The smaller silver coins, which belong chiefly to the fourth century, are of the following types :—

It will be remarked that the staters of Croton, from first to last, are of full weight, averaging 120-118 grs. Of course we often meet with specimens both heavier and lighter (Regling, Klio, vi. 3, p. 509), but the evidence all tends to prove that no legal reduction took place at Croton, as it certainly did at Tarentum, Heraclea, Thurium, &c., circ. B.C. 281. The inference is that no staters were struck at Croton after B.C. 299.

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BRONZE COINS.

Before circ. B.C. 400.

Fourth century B.C.

Inscr. ΚΡΟ, &c., and ΚΡΟΤΩΝΙΑΤΑΝ

The types of the coins of Croton, from the earliest down to the latest, have been interpreted by de Luynes and Lenormant as having been in- spired by the religious ideas of the Pythagoreans. [1] First and foremost in importance, according to this theory, comes the Tripod, the emblem of the Pythian Apollo, whose cultus lay at the root of the doctrines and speculations of the school of Pythagoras. With the Pythagoreans the Tripod represented the sacred number three, to which they attached a mystic significance. Next, the Eagle, the symbol of Zeus, the supreme god, occupies a place second only in importance to the tripod of Apollo. In connexion with this type we are reminded that an eagle was the familiar bird of Pythagoras, believed by his followers to have been sent down to him by Zeus himself in evidence of his divine mission. Among the adjunct symbols, which here, as at Metapontum, may possibly have a religious meaning, by far the commonest is the Crane (γερανος), the bird of passage, the witness from the regions of the air of all that happens on earth, and so the symbol of the all-seeing eye of the God of Light. [2]

But a simpler, and, as I think, a more probable explanation, of the Tripod and the Eagle as Crotoniate types is that they were originally_agonistic_, and, in a sense, commemorative of the many victories in the Olympic games won by citizens of Croton in the sixth and fifth cen- turies B.C. If so, the Tripod would represent the prize carried off by a Crotonian athlete, and the Eagle, as on the coins of Elis, would be generally understood as referring to the Olympic games; or to local games held at Croton itself. There is much to be said in favour of the theory that most of the early Greek coins (especially the larger denomina- tions) were issued only on the occasions of recurrent festivals, and not continuously for ordinary trade requirements.

1 La Grande Grce, ii. p. 99. 2 Lenormant, l. c.

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Among the purely local types we note the head of the river-god Aesaros, and especially Herakles as the legendary οικιστης of the colony, and Herakles here surnamed Lykon (Apollod. iii. 10, 5).

But of all the Crotoniate coin-types that which obtained the widest popularity in Italy, as the coins of many other towns with the same type amply testify, was the beautiful full-face representation of the Lakinian Hera with flowing hair and stephanos adorned with flowers and the foreparts of griffins.

The temple of this great goddess was by far the most renowned sanctuary in all Italy. To this shrine at stated times vast crowds would flock from all parts of the west, and for these festivals coins would be specially required. The goddess here worshipped was originally perhaps an earth-goddess of native Oenotrian origin, afterwards identi- fied by the Greeks with Hera. One of her surnames, according to Lycophron (l. 858), was Οπλοσμια. She was probably therefore an armed goddess, closely allied to if not identical with the Hera Argoia, Argeia, or perhaps Areia (Strabo, vi. 252), whose temple stood near Poseidonia, on the banks of the river Silaros, and whose head is repre- sented on certain coins of Poseidonia, Hyria, &c., precisely in the same manner as that of the Lakinian Hera on the coins of Croton, Pandosia, &c.

Hipponium (Bivona), or more correctly Heiponium or Veiponium, was according to Strabo (vi. 256) a colony of Locri, situated on the west coast of Bruttium. It was pillaged by Dionysius, and its population removed to Syracuse in B.C. 389. Ten years later it was re-established by the Carthaginians, and its inhabitants restored. Circ. B.C. 350 it fell into the hands of the Bruttians, was liberated again by Alexander of Epirus, B.C. 330-325, conquered by Agathocles, B.C. 296, but recovered soon after by the Bruttians, who held it until B.C. 272, when it was garrisoned by the Romans. In B.C. 192 it was made a Latin colony under the name ofVibo Valentia (Livy xxxv. 40), see [Vibo](#Vibo Valentia), infra.

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Its coins are all of bronze, and fall into the following periods:—

I. Circ. B.C. 379-350.

With Inscr. CΕΙ or CΕΙΠ [= Veip., indicating Oscan influence].

II. Circ. B.C. 330-325. Time of Alexander of Epirus.

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Concerning the goddess Pandina, who is met with also on fourth- century coins of the neighbouring city of Terina, we have no informa- tion.

III. Circ. B.C. 296. Time of Agathocles.

Vibo Valentia (see Hipponium). Coinage of bronze with marks of value, and of Semuncial weight before its definite legalization at Rome (Momm.-Blacas, iii. p. 194).

Circ. B.C. 192-89.

The Lex Plautia Papiria B.C. 89, De asse semunciali (Plin. _Hist. Nat._xxxiii. 3. 46), introduced by C. Papirius Carbo, put an end to the coinage of bronze in the few confederate towns in Italy which were at that time still coining in their own names, Paestum alone excepted.

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Locri Epizephyrii. Locri was from the first a flourishing agricultural rather than a commercial city, but, from the time of Dionysius the Elder, politically predominant in the Bruttian peninsula. Nevertheless, strange to say, it has left us no coins whatever which can be attributed to the period of its greatest prosperity. Whether the Laws of Zaleucus, which are said to have been in force at Locri down to a late date, forbade, like those of Lycurgus, the use of coined money we do not know; but it is certain that there are no Locrian coins earlier than the middle of the fourth century.

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The Locrian silver money is of two entirely distinct classes, differing from one another both in type and in weight. (α) Corinthian staters of the Pegasos type, wt. 135-130 grs., and (β) staters of native Locrian types, which follow the standard of the neighbouring towns, wt. 120-115 grs.

(α) Corinthian staters, &c., for foreign commerce, 135-130 grs.

(i) Circ. B.C. 350?-332.
From the expulsion of Dionysius 11 to the expedition of Alexander
of Epirus.

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(ii) Circ. B.C. 332-300.

(iii) Circ. B.C. 300-268.

To this last period the bronze coins of Locri with Corinthian types seem also to belong (B. M. C., Corinth, Pl. XXIV. 7-10).

The Corinthian stater was adopted as the standard silver coin of Syracuse shortly before the restoration of the democracy by Timoleon, B.C. 345 (see Syracuse). Locri, which was at all times most intimately connected both politically and commercially with that city, appears to have coined money in her own name for the first time about this period, and to have received the Corinthian stater from Syracuse, with which town as well as with Corinth and her colonies in Acarnania, Corcyra, and Illyria, the Locrians thus contracted de facto a monetary alliance.

The Corinthian staters of Locri are by no means rare coins, and are found mixed with those of other cities. This shows that Locri carried on an extensive foreign commerce in the direction indicated above.

Meanwhile it was also necessary to strike money for her home trade with the Italian towns.

(β) Italic standard for home trade. Staters, wt. 120-115 grs.

(i) Circ. B.C. 350-332.

FIG. 56.

The reverse type of this coin points to the beginning of an era of in- ternal peace and prosperity, such as that which may well have followed the expulsion of the younger Dionysius. The figure of Eirene may be compared with that of Nike-Terina on coins of Terina.

The bronze money of this period is of peculiarly rude fabric. The

1 Regling, Klio, vi. p. 514, regards the Locrian staters of this type as of the _Campanian_rather than of the Italic standard. It is doubtful, however, whether the number of specimens, of which he records the weights, is large enough to justify such an inference.

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metal of which the coins are composed appears to have been melted and run into a series of circular moulds, connected with one another by a continuous channel. The blanks after being cast were clipped off one by one and struck separately.

(ii) Circ. B.C. 332-326.

[B. M. Guide, Pl. XXXIV. 26.]

The head of Zeus here entirely changes its character; the hair is no longer short and crisp, but falls in flowing locks as on the contemporary money of Alexander of Epirus, introduced into, if not actually struck in Italy at this time.

(iii) Circ. B.C. 326-268.

Inscr. ΛΟΚΡΩΝ either on obv. or rev. Symbol, frequently, fulmen.

Many of these coins are so negligently engraved that we might almost imagine them to be Bruttian imitations. With regard to their date, see Regling, Klio, vi. p. 514.

(iv) Circ. B.C. 300-280.

Bronze coinage.

In their reverse types, style, and epigraphy, these coins bear so close a resemblance to the money of Agathocles that there can be no doubt about their date.

(v) Circ. B.C. 280-268.

In B.C. 277 the Locrians placed themselves under the protection of Rome, expelling the garrison which Pyrrhus had placed in their citadel. The next year the king of Epirus recovered the town, but in another year or two we find it again among the allies of Rome. It was during these troubled times that the Locrians, perhaps by way of propitiating the Romans, celebrated the loyalty of their city towards Rome by imprinting upon their staters the following type :—

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FIG. 57.

The head of Zeus on these interesting coins is of the leonine type, —deeply recessed eye, strongly emphasized frontal bone, and hair falling in heavy locks over his brows,—which is characteristic of the tetradrachms of Pyrrhus. The resemblance to the money of Pyrrhus is in fact so striking that we are inclined to regard them as works of the same engraver, and to draw the inference that Pyrrhus actually struck his famous tetradrachms while he held Locri. This hypothesis is greatly strengthened by the fact that Pyrrhus’s tetradrachms have been frequently found in Southern Italy, and even on the site of Locri itself. [1]

BRONZE. Circ. B.C. 300-268 or later.

The following bronze coins belong for the most part to the time of the Pyrrhic wars; some of them, however, may be later :—

The head and figure of Persephone on these coins remind us of the prominent place which the famous temple of that goddess at Locri occupied in the minds of all men during the Pyrrhic war; cf. the speech of the Locrian envoy at Rome (Livy xxix. 18), ‘Fanum est apud nos Proserpinae de cuius sanctitate templi credo aliquam famam ad vos pervenisse Pyrrhi bello.’

The coin with the heads of the Dioskuri is a poor copy of the silver coins of the Bruttians (p. 92).

Mesma or Medma, on the west coast of Bruttium, was a Locrian colony. This town never rose to any great importance. It is not probable that any of the coins which bear its name are of an earlier date than B.C. 350, the time when Locri herself began to coin money. The

1 F. Lenormant in the Academy, June 26, 1880.

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Mesmaean coinage consists of (α) Corinthian staters, similar to those of Locri, but with ΜΕ or Μ beneath the Pegasos, and no inscr. on the Rev., [1] and (β) bronze coins of the following types:—

The female head on these coins, which is often accompanied by a vase, is thought to be the Fountain-nymph Mesma (Strab. vi. 256). The naked figure with the dog may be the river Metauros, or the god Pan.

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Mystia and Hyporon, on the east coast of the Bruttian peninsula (Itin. Ant., 115, 4). See Berliner Blätter, iv. p. 137.

BRONZE COINS. Circ. B.C. 300.

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Nuceria (Nocera), in the immediate vicinity of Terina.

This town is only mentioned by Steph. Byz. (s. v.). Its coins are of bronze, and apparently struck in alliance with Rhegium and Terina:—

Circ. B.C. 350-270 or later.

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Pandosia was an inland town, on the small river Acheron, a tributary of the Krathis, west of Croton, and apparently a dependency of that city in the fifth century B.C. (cf. Strab. vi. 256). Its earliest coins were struck in alliance with Croton, and date from about B.C. 480. They were probably struck, not at Pandosia, but at Croton (q. v.).

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Circ. B.C. 450-400.

FIG. 58.

1 Imhoof-Blumer, Die Münzen Akarnaniens, p. 6. 2 Cf. ΣΤΑ—ΟΨΙ on coins of Las Lucaniae, p. 75.

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This last coin is of the highest interest as it fixes the site of Pandosia near the river Krathis. The rev. may be compared for style with the coin of Metapontum (Fig. 36, p. 76). It also shows that the ancient forms of the letters Σ and Ι (Μ and I) were still in use in the middle of the fifth century, unless we suppose that they are intentionally archastic, which is more probable (cf. ΟIΚIΜΤΑΜ on a coin of Croton, p. 97, supra). The date of the general introduction of the ordinary forms of those letters into South Italy seems to have been coincident with the founding of Thurium (circ. B.C. 443); cf. the coins of the later Sybaris (p. 85).

Circ. B.C. 400.

FIG. 59.

BRONZE.

The beautiful stater above described is one of the most exquisite productions of any Greek mint. The letter in the field may be a mint-mark; it occurs also on numerous coins of other cities—Velia, Neapolis, Thurium, Terina, &c. (see p. 114).

Soon after B.C. 400 Pandosia ceases to coin money. It was in the neighbourhood of this place that Alexander the Molossian lost his life in B.C. 326 (Strab. vi. 256; Livy viii. 24). It is again mentioned as a Bruttian town B.C. 204 (Livy xxix. 38), but no Pandosian coins are known later than the beginning of the fourth century B.C.

Peripolium (see under Samnium, p. 27).

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Petelia (Strongoli), about twelve miles north of Croton, was in early times dependent upon that city. Subsequently it passed into the power of the Lucanians (Strab. vi. 1) and then into that of the Bruttians. Its coinage begins early in the third century, under the Bruttian dominion.

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Circ. B.C. 280-216.

During the Second Punic War Petelia adhered firmly to the Roman alliance, in spite of the defection of the Bruttians, and was rewarded after the conclusion of the war by being allowed to retain special privileges, among which was the right of coining in bronze on the Semuncial system.

Circ. B.C. 204-89 (?).

Rhegium (Reggio), on the Sicilian Straits, was in the main a Chalcidian colony, with a dominant Messenian element. It was one of the cities in which the philosophy of Pythagoras took the deepest root, and some think that it is to the influence of the Pythagorean confraternity that its participation in the incuse coinage of the early Achaean ‘monetary confederacy’ is owing. (Babelon, Traité, p. 1468.)

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Rhegium was, however, too far removed from Croton and Sybaris, the centres of the Achaean commerce, and too closely connected with her sister Chalcidian colonies in Sicily, to be drawn into anything more than outward conformity with the Achaean incuse currency. In weight its earliest money follows the Aeginetic (?) standard [1] of the other Chalcidian colonies, while in type and fabric it is thoroughly Achaean. Exactly the same phenomenon occurs at Zancle-Messana. The attitude of these two cities of the south towards the Achaean currency was thus precisely that of Poseidonia in the north, which also superficially conformed to the Achaean pattern while retaining its own weight-standard.

Circ. B.C. 530-494.

1 It is a moot point whether the coins weighing about 90 grs., as issued by the earliest Chalcidian colonies Naxus, Zancle, Himera, and Rhegium, are in reality Aeginetic drachms, although they are identical with them in weight, or whether they are Thirds of the Attic tetradrachms which superseded them. In the latter case the division of the Euboic-Attic tetradrachm by three instead of by two was doubtless due to the influence of the widely current coinage of Aegina in early times. (See A. J. Evans in Num. Chron., 1898, p. 391.)

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Circ. B.C. 494-480.

About B.C. 494, after the capture of Miletus, a body of Samians and some Milesian exiles left Asia to settle in the west, on the north coast of Sicily. On their arrival in Italy they were prevailed upon by Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegium, to seize the town of Zancle (Herod. vi. 22). These Samians were soon afterwards either expelled or reduced to sub- jection by Anaxilas, who then ruled over both Rhegium and Zancle. On this occasion he is said to have changed the name of Zancle to Messene in memory of his own origin. Henceforward the money of Rhegium is essentially Sicilian in type, fabric, and weight.

The first adoption of the Lion’s head facing and the Calf’s head on the coins of Zancle-Messana and Rhegium it is usual to ascribe to the influence of the Samians, these two types being evidently modifications of the types used at Samos itself. The Rhegine coins bearing Samian types are the following :—

Aeginetic (?) weight.

Attic weight.

This last coin might be ascribed to Samos, were it not for the fact that its weight is not that which was prevalent in Samos and that a specimen has been found at Messina.

The Samian derivation of the above types is certain. Hence it may be argued that the coins concerned were minted during the period when Zancle, as it was still called, was occupied by the Samians, and not after their expulsion.

All of them, whether Aeginetic or Attic, must therefore have been struck very soon after B.C. 494. The precise date of the expulsion of the Samians cannot be fixed. It is probably marked, however, by the intro- duction of entirely new types, which we have Aristotle’s (ap. J. Pollux, v. 75) authority for ascribing to Anaxilas himself, for he states that Anaxilas, having gained an Olympian victory with the mule-car, struck coins with the mule-car upon them in commemoration of his success. The coins alluded to by the philosopher are the following :—

Circ. B.C. 480-466.

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Aristotle (ap. J. Pollux, l. c.) explains the appearance of the hare as also due to Anaxilas, who is said to have introduced that animal into Sicily. This account is probably to be accepted so far as regards the origin of the type, although at Messene it perhaps acquired a religious significance which permitted of its retention after the downfall of the tyrants.

At Rhegium, though not at Messene, the hare and mule-car types cease to be used apparently about ten years after the death of Anaxilas, on the occasion of the establishment of a democracy, B.C. 466.

Circ. B.C. 466-415.

FIG. 60.

The seated figure, on the earlier specimens bearded and on some of the later ones youthful, is usually thought to personify the Demos of Rhegium. In the first edition of this work I ventured to suggest that it might perhaps be intended for a divinity of the nature of Agreus or Aristaeos, the patron of rural life and pursuits. The shepherd’s dog, the duck, and the crow, frequently seen under or beside the seat, would thus stand in some sort of intimate relation to the main type, whereas, if the figure is Demos, they would have to be regarded merely as adjunct symbols unconnected with the principal figure. On the other hand, J. P. Six (N. C., 1898, p. 281) argues that the seated figure is Iokastos, the traditional founder of Rhegium, who, so the story ran, met his death from the bite of a serpent. In support of his theory Six has drawn attention to the fact that on some specimens there is visible a serpent coiled round the back leg of the chair on which the divinity is seated. The presence of the serpent in intimate relation to the type suggests also that the seated figure might be Asklepios (cf. coin of Epidaurus in Argolis), whose cultus at Rhegium is evidenced by later coins (see infra). On the whole, however, I am inclined to think that M. Six was right. and that the seated figure was intended to represent the traditional oekist. (Cf. the contemporary coins of Tarentum with seated oekist, p. 55.)

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Circ. B.C. 415-387.

FIG. 61.

In the year B.C. 387 Dionysius destroyed Rhegium, after which event, although the city was restored some years later by the younger Diony- sius, no silver coins (except a few Corinthian staters, like those of Locri, but with PH in monogram) were struck for about a century, and then only in very small quantity.

It is noticeable that the Ω hardly ever appears on the silver money of Rhegium. The inscription ΡΗΓΙΝΟΝ should probably therefore be read Ρηγινον, and not Ρηγινων, as on most of the bronze coins, which are later in date than the silver. Cf. Ρηγινος, and also on a bronze coin mentioned below, Ρηγινη. For the use of the adjective see Las supra,p. 74, and Macdonald, Coin Types, p. 131.

BRONZE COINAGE.

The only bronze coins of Rhegium contemporary with the silver and therefore struck before B.C. 387, are the following (see Imhoof, Mon. gr., p. 10):—

Before B.C. 387.

Circ. B.C. 350-270.

The following types may be placed after the restoration of the city by Dionysius II, shortly before the middle of the fourth century:—

(α) Silver: Corinthian staters of the Pegasos type, with ΡΗ (in mon.) and a lyre behind the head of Athena (B. M. C., Corinth, Pl. XXIV. 12).

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(β) Bronze.

The coins with the head of Apollo are very numerous and exhibit a gradual decline in style.

In B.C. 271 the Campanian Legion, stationed at Rhegium by the Romans, seized the city; but they were soon afterwards expelled.

Circ. B.C. 270-203.

(α) Silver.

(β) Bronze, without marks of value.

The very rare silver coins of this time are contemporary with the latest silver coins of Syracuse, Agrigentum, and Tauromenium, which no longer follow the Attic standard, but are nevertheless multiples of the silver litra. Those of Rhegium seem to be respectively pieces of 4 litrae (normal wt. 54 grs.) 2 litrae (normal wt. 27 grs.) and 1½ litrae (wt. 20.2 grs.).

BRONZE. With marks of value. Circ. B.C. 203-89.

Reduced weight.

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The marks of value on these bronze coins seem to stand for fractions of the silver litra, cf. the coins of the Mamertini. The weights and sizes, which are very various, show that there must have been a rapid reduction in the course of the century to which they belong (Momm.- Blacas, i. p. 138 sq.; Garrucci, Ann. de Num., 1882, pp. 213 sqq.).

Temesa was an ancient Greek city on the west coast of Bruttium. In its territory were mines of copper (Hom. Od. i. 184; Strab. vi. 256). The types (tripod, greaves, and helmet) represent probably the prizes awarded at some agonistic festival. Cf. the armour (ΑΘΛΑ) in the exergue of the Syracusan dekadrachms.

Temesa appears from its coins to have been closely allied to, if not a dependency of, Croton about B.C. 500, after which it has left us no numismatic records :—

For alliance coins see Croton, p. 95.

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Terina, a few miles south of Temesa on the Gulf of Hipponium, was a colony of Croton. Its coinage commences about B.C. 480, before which time it was doubtless dependent upon its metropolis. It afterwards passed successively under the dominion of the Lucanians (B.C. 365) and the Bruttians (B.C. 356) who held it, except for a brief interval when Alexander of Epirus released it from their yoke (circ. B.C. 325), down to B.C. 272.

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The town was burnt by Hannibal in B.C. 203.

On the coinage of this city see K. Regling’s monograph Terina in the Programm zum Winckelmannsfeste, 1906, and H. v. Fritze and H. Gaebler in Nomisma, i. pp. 20 sqq., Berlin, 1907. The weight- standard of the coins of Terina is the Italic, and the average weight of the stater or nomos is 118 grs.

Circ. B.C. 480-425.

FIG. 62.

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Circ. B.C. 425-400.

FIG. 63.

After circ. B.C. 400.

FIG. 64.

The types of the smaller silver coins (wts. 35, 19, and 11 grs.) resemble those of the staters, but sometimes Nike sits on the capital of a column, and on the obol she is flying. Signatures ΦΙΛΙΣ, Α, &c.

The Thirds frequently have the Sicilian triskeles below the head of the city, showing them to have been struck under Sicilian influence, and perhaps as late as the time of Agathocles.

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BRONZE.

Circ. B.C. 325.

The staters of the Corinthian type, bearing the letters TE in mono- gram behind the head of Athena (B. M. C., Corinth, p. xlix), were probably issued at Terina circ. B.C. 325, when Alexander of Epirus released the town for a short time from the yoke of the Bruttians. Cf. the contemporary Pegasos staters of Locri and Rhegium.

Circ. B.C. 272.

Among the silver coins of Terina, of the best period, there are specimens which, in elegance of design and exquisite delicacy of work, take rank among the most beautiful of all Greek coins. It will generally be found that these truly admirable works of art bear the letters Φ or Π in the field. These are probably not artists’ signatures but mint-marks common to several cities (see von Fritze and Gaebler in_Nomisma_, I., pp. 14 sqq.).

The types of the Terinaean coins have given rise to much learned discussion. The head on the obverse is probably always that of the city-nymph, Terina, herself. The winged figure on the reverse is more difficult to identify, but is probably a combination of Nike and Terina (see Regling, Terina), and of agonistic origin.

The goddess Pandina is a divinity regarding whom we have no informa- tion. She was also worshipped about this time at Hipponium, where she is represented holding a sceptre and a caduceus or sometimes a wreath.