LUCANIA, Metapontum. Silver. Stater. 7.98 g. Ca. 340 B.C.E.
Head of young Dionysos angled sharply to left, crowned with ivy wreath; behind neck, KA / META. Ear of barley with leaf on left, above which, coiled serpent; below leaf and reading downwards, I[O].
Condition: Extremely fine.
Published:
G. Fiorelli, ‘Catalogo del Museo Nazionale di Napoli, Collezione Santangelo, Monete Greche’, Naples, 1866, 4018 or 4019.
R. Garrucci, ‘Monete dell’Italia Antica’, Rome, 1885, pl. 104, 3.
M.P. Vlasto, ‘Les monnaies d’or de Tarente’, J.I.A.N. 4, 1901, p. 107, 4, 5, pl. 6, 16.
L. Forrer, ‘Les signatures des graveurs sur les monnaies grecques;, R.B.N. 61, 1905, p. 10, 7.
L. Forrer, ‘Biographical Dictionary of Medallists’, vol. III, 1907, p. 108, 8.
R.R. Holloway, ‘Art and Coinage in Magna Graecia’, Bellinzona, 1978, p. 15, 5 and p. 148.
Provenance:
Santangelo Collection, Naples.
Duplicate of the Museo Nazionale, Naples.
Kunstfreund sale, 1974, lot 180.
Metapontum had produced coinage from the sixth century, initially by the ‘incuse’ technique. Subsequently a more normal pattern was adopted with a divine head, usually that of Demeter, on the obverse and a barley ear on the reverse. Both stood as symbols of the city’s agricultural prosperity.
In the later fourth century, the deities chosen for the obverse became more varied, and include Zeus, Apollo and Herakles, as well as this exceptionally rare depiction of a youthful Dionysos (identifiable as such by the crown of ivy he wears). Dionysos worshipped at Metapontum as Dionysos Eriphios, but he appears on coinage on only this issue, known from a single die.
The coin bears abbreviated names on both sides; Kal on the obverse and Philo in the reverse. It is of some interest to note that, as well as Kal, two other names, Ari and Ona occur on contemporary coins of both Metapontum and her more powerful neighbor Tarentum, and this has led to speculations that they are the names of itinerant coin engravers. This view tends, however, to be discounted nowadays, and the names are interpreted as more probably of mint magistrates or officials responsible for the coins’ production. But even if anonymous, there is no denying the skill of the engraving; though sharing the fourth century delight in facing heads, the extreme angle at which the head of Dionysos here is presented would have been offered a new challenge to the craftsman responsible for the die.
HUNT I, 94
