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An owl just arrived, but not the usual kind...
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<p>[QUOTE="Only a Poor Old Man, post: 4972975, member: 111037"]Oh boy, the week started really nice for me. Yesterday I received that Virgin Mary Follis that I presented in the other thread, and this morning a little owl arrived to say hello! It is a coin with an Athena/Owl combination, but it is not from Athens. It is a Magna Graecia coin and specifically a drachm from the Spartan colony of Taras (Tarentum). Most people associate Tarentum with coins featuring dolphins, horses, and boys riding them. But around the time of the Pyrrhic wars (281 - 272 BC) they issued this lovely design featuring the goddess Athena, helmeted with Skylla decorations on the obverse, and a little owl on the reverse. In rare occasions like in the coin below the owl has open wings and sitting on a thunderbolt. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1195119[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>It is a lovely little coin with excellent detail. The owl is magnificent (legents are ΔΙΟ - ΣΩΣ) and the Athena is also very beautiful. She came out a bit bright and blurry in the photo, but it is a small coin and difficult to capture properly.</p><p><br /></p><p> [ATTACH=full]1195120[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>This is my second coin from Magna Graecia (the first was from Metapontum), and they are easily the most artistic coins in my collection. One could easily focus their collection on the coins of Greek Italy and Sicily but that would only be achievable if one has deep pockets. You will run out very easily of 'affordable' coins. And I used single quotes there as affordable is a relative term. This little drachm cost six times more than the Virgin Mary Follis I got yesterday.</p><p><br /></p><p>I am bit baffled about why such an Athenian theme was used for this coin. Even though there is some dispute about Taras being a Spartan colony, it was definitely no friend of Athens and it sided against Athens in the Peloponnesian war. This coin was minted around the time of the Pyrrhic wars were Taras felt threatened by Rome's increased intervention in the affairs of the Greek cities in Italy. The size and weight of the coin indicates that it was adapted to fit in the commerce with Rome, but Taras was quite prepared to antagonize the Romans when they requested the assistance of the Epirot King Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus had to help as Taras had helped him earlier to conquer Corcyra (Corfu). Early in the conflict the city was attacked and plundered by the Romans, but eventually the arrival of the Epirot reinforcements sent the Romans packing. But as we know the conflict was long and 'Pyrrhic' and the reinforcements eventually had to abandon the Tarentines to their fate.. In 272 BC the Romans conquered the city with much looting and destruction. 30,000 Tarantine citizens were sold as slaves. </p><p><br /></p><p>Show me your Taras coins or anything else from Magna Graecia or the period of the Pyrrhic intervention.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Only a Poor Old Man, post: 4972975, member: 111037"]Oh boy, the week started really nice for me. Yesterday I received that Virgin Mary Follis that I presented in the other thread, and this morning a little owl arrived to say hello! It is a coin with an Athena/Owl combination, but it is not from Athens. It is a Magna Graecia coin and specifically a drachm from the Spartan colony of Taras (Tarentum). Most people associate Tarentum with coins featuring dolphins, horses, and boys riding them. But around the time of the Pyrrhic wars (281 - 272 BC) they issued this lovely design featuring the goddess Athena, helmeted with Skylla decorations on the obverse, and a little owl on the reverse. In rare occasions like in the coin below the owl has open wings and sitting on a thunderbolt. [ATTACH=full]1195119[/ATTACH] It is a lovely little coin with excellent detail. The owl is magnificent (legents are ΔΙΟ - ΣΩΣ) and the Athena is also very beautiful. She came out a bit bright and blurry in the photo, but it is a small coin and difficult to capture properly. [ATTACH=full]1195120[/ATTACH] This is my second coin from Magna Graecia (the first was from Metapontum), and they are easily the most artistic coins in my collection. One could easily focus their collection on the coins of Greek Italy and Sicily but that would only be achievable if one has deep pockets. You will run out very easily of 'affordable' coins. And I used single quotes there as affordable is a relative term. This little drachm cost six times more than the Virgin Mary Follis I got yesterday. I am bit baffled about why such an Athenian theme was used for this coin. Even though there is some dispute about Taras being a Spartan colony, it was definitely no friend of Athens and it sided against Athens in the Peloponnesian war. This coin was minted around the time of the Pyrrhic wars were Taras felt threatened by Rome's increased intervention in the affairs of the Greek cities in Italy. The size and weight of the coin indicates that it was adapted to fit in the commerce with Rome, but Taras was quite prepared to antagonize the Romans when they requested the assistance of the Epirot King Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus had to help as Taras had helped him earlier to conquer Corcyra (Corfu). Early in the conflict the city was attacked and plundered by the Romans, but eventually the arrival of the Epirot reinforcements sent the Romans packing. But as we know the conflict was long and 'Pyrrhic' and the reinforcements eventually had to abandon the Tarentines to their fate.. In 272 BC the Romans conquered the city with much looting and destruction. 30,000 Tarantine citizens were sold as slaves. Show me your Taras coins or anything else from Magna Graecia or the period of the Pyrrhic intervention.[/QUOTE]
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