Beautiful (despite the eccentric struck) and rare didrachm (sometimes also called nomos) minted in Tarentum - one of the most important poles in Calabria - between 281 and 272 BC.
Greece, Calabria
Tarentum, Nomos 281-272 BC
Obverse: naked rider on a horse standing right, on the Ionian capital, behind him ZΩ, under the horse's belly ZAΛO
Reverse: a naked Taras on the back of a dolphin to the left, behind it the abbreviation ANΘ, below TAPAΣ (cut off by eccentric struck)
Weight 6.31 g
Silver didrachmas are the basic denomination minted in ancient Tarentum. An inseparable motif of their reverse is a naked young man swimming on the back of a dolphin. This young man is Taras - the mythical founder and eponym of the Tarentum polis. According to the legend, he was supposed to be the son of Poseidon (hence the relationship with the dolphin and, on some coins, the attribute in the form of a trident), in fact, however, Tarentum was founded as a colony founded in 706 BC by settlers from Sparta (according to a more realistic version of the legend, they were descendants Spartan women and citizens with limited civil rights forced into exile by pure-blood Spartans).
