Tarentum Nomos: The Story of a Boy and his Cotton Candy Adventure

[Hesiod]

Here's one of my two Tarentum Nomos. Hoping to pick up some nice dies of other types, but they're not really high priority.

Here is the auction house's attribution:

 

Calabria, Tarentum. Nomos circa 500-490. TAPAS retrograde Dolphin rider r., holding octopus. Rev. TAPAS retrograde Hippocampus r.; below, shell. SNG Lloyd 113 (these dies). Fischer-Bossert 36. Historia Numorum Italy 827.

[Alegandron]

RR Lucretius Trio 76 BCE AR Den Neptune dolphin boy  S 322 Cr 390-2

[kapphnwn]

This coin represents the end of the line for this longed lived and interesting coinage.  

Drachm or half Shekel of Taras minted during the Hannibalic Alliance 212-209 BC  Obv  Jocley crowning prancing horse left  Rv. Taras  holding Nike riding dolphin left. Vlasto 977 HGC 931 3.56 grms 20 mm Photo by W. Hansen

With the defeat of their ally Pyrrhus in  275 BC the Romans captured Taras (272 BC) However the coinage did not end. Sometime circa 228 BC ?? the coinage in Taras ceased production. In 212 BC the Tarantines ended their alliance with Rome choosing to side with Hannibal. There was an almost immediate change to the coinage. The nomos was either discontinued or was reduced to a standard of 3.1 grms. After Rome recaptured Taras their coinage was finally discontinued. 

[Alegandron]

Thrace Byzantion AR Half-Siglos bull-dolphin-incuse 340-320 BCE

[NewStyleKing]

On 6/21/2022 at 4:29 PM, Fortuna Redux said:

My dolphin rider…bouncing on the waves! (or flying?)

Calabria, Tarentum AR Nomos. Circa 344-340 BC. 7.70g, 21mm, 10h
 

Obverse: Warrior, holding shield and spear, on galloping horse to left; Δ below

Reverse: Phalanthos, nude, holding kantharos and riding dolphin to left; TAPAΣ downwards to right, small dolphin and E above waves below.

Reference: Vlasto 387; SNG ANS 904; HN Italy 870.

Drunk  in charge of a dolphin, what's the penalty, oh to get invaded! Nice

[Phil Anthos]

Why the distaff and grapes? Someone already mentioned the industrial symbolism, but there is more than that going on here I think.

The cult of Dionysus was strong at Taras. The theater where the Roman envoy was violated was dedicated to Dionysus. So here is a chubby little boy with long hair, which is unlike any other depiction of Poseidon's son but very much like Iacchus, son of Dionysus. The fact that the boy is holding a phallic symbol strengthens the case and the bunch of grapes all but seals it, imo.

Many coins from Taras have Dionysian symbols, but the coin in the original post is the best I think.

~ Peter Hope 

Edited September 5, 2023 by Phil Anthos

[Deinomenid]

On 6/22/2022 at 1:38 PM, Prieure de Sion said:

Is anyone here, who can say my what do the abbreviations mean?

Obverse
ΞΩ = XO = ?
ΞΑΛΟ = XALO = ?

Reverse
ΤΑΡΑΣ = Taras (that's logic)
ANΘ = is this the date?

Sorry to be "slightly" late to answer! Yes, these are highly  likely to be temporary officials, or organizers of the minting. Fischer-Bossert went to some lengths to try to show they were not - as some claim-  the names of ephors or of leading citizen sponsors or as some (Evans and  to an extent Vlasto) said of engravers.  ANΘ is likely another such  official and  not a date.

What  names the abbreviations  stood for is a matter of conjecture or informed guessing I'm afraid.

In case it helps, this is  from Fischer- Bossert.

Around the middle of the 5th century, the first signatures appear sporadically on the Tarentine didrachms. These are single letters, usually placed on the obverse; only at the beginning of the 4th century, when the series of signatures begins to increase, do additional reverse signatures appear. After, isolated signatures in syllabic form appeared in the first half of the 4th century, it became customary around 340 to write at least the obverse signature as a syllable.

The following development justifies understanding these syllables as name abbreviations. The increasing level of detail is due to the need to distinguish people with the same initials, but soon takes on the additional function of marking signatures of different rank by means of gradation: to the detailed, i.e. the main signature, further signatures are now added, which consist of only one letter and are attached peripherally. It is not a break, but the next step in this development, when full names appear for the first time on the obverse of Evans' Period VI; first fully spelled out names appear; consequently, the secondary signatures are now expanded to syllables. This system of ranking the signatures according to the degree of detail and where they were affixed remained valid until the end of Tarantum's minting activity. The interpretation of a signature must take into account the continuity of this development and must not be limited to the immediate environment. The chronological approach is significantly influenced by the interpretation of the signatures. Signatures from an engraver allow such coins to be distributed over a longer period of time, while the opposite is true when the signatures cannot be related to an engraver. The latter must be due to organizational reasons and suggest people who countersigned a certain amount of money or were responsible for the minting process, but whose assignment was likely to have been of limited duration.

& one other  thing - he's pretty insistent these names were not of leaders, or dedicated important  minters. 

Only one solution remains. If the signatories are neither the periodically elected officials of the government nor have anything to do with the sources of the funds, then they must be persons assigned by the polis to oversee the minting. Jenkins referred to such people as officials, but the classic poleis knew neither of professional administrative office nor of the continuous minting that would have forced the establishment of a periodic office. In Athens, where we know the situation best, there was no institution that bundled the various functions of financial administration, but instead a circle of elected commissions entrusted with limited areas of responsibility....

 

And after that dryness here's a coin!

Greek Coinages, Calabria, Tarentum, Nomos, 340-325, by the moneyer Kal[–], youth on horseback left, holding shield and preparing to cast javelin, rev. dolphin-rider right, inspecting helmet, ταρασ behind, καλ below, 7.69g/3h (HN Italy 896; Vlasto ~558; McClean 594).

 

 

 

[Edessa]

These Tarentum coins can have such beautiful toning.

Calabria, Tarentum. Circa 380-340 BC. AR Nomos (18mm, 7.46g, 10h). Obv: Youth on horseback right; Θ below. Rev: TAPAΣ; Taras or Phalanthos riding dolphin left. Ref: Fischer-Bossert 586 (V235/R448); Vlasto 452; HN Italy 879; HGC 1, 777; SNG ANS 940 (same obverse die). Very Fine, old cabinet toning, reverse legend weakness. Ex-CNG Sunday Auction, April 2001, Lot 62287.

[Phil Anthos]

I think it must be pointed out that Taras was not 'conquered' by Rome in 272. An agreement was reached whereby Taras would pay certain restitution, and an annual tribute was probably stipulated. But Taras (now Tarentum) remained politically independent and the mint continued for another 50 years. Taras even voluntarily sent 50 ships to help Rome in the First Punic War.

It was their throwing in with Hannibal during the Second Punic War that finally pissed off Rome and put the nail in the coffin for Tarentine autonomy, and after that Taras/Tarentum was reduced to basically a seaside resort for the Roman elite.

"... I would that I might end my days at Tarentum."
~ Horace 

~ Peter 

Edited September 16, 2023 by Phil Anthos