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Message:: [QUOTE="romismatist, post: 7572503, member: 44106"]Nice writeup, Ryro! I agree that the Magna Grecian early staters are magnificent! Your map shows the major city-states in the region... but there are also several lesser-known city-states which also issued coinage in the later periods. I specialize in collecting the coinage of the mints in the "heel of the boot" which was known as Calabria in antiquity but which was renamed Apulia due to a mix-up sometime in the Middle Ages. These mints primarily minted bronze coinage in the 3d and 2d centuries up until the Punic War period (with the exception of a few extremely rare coinages from Baletium (Alezio), Neretum (modern Nardo) and Kasario (Porto Cesare)). After this time, Taranto was first occupied by Hannibal's forces but finally fell to Rome. The most prolific of these coinages, other than Tarentum / Taras was likely Brundisium (modern-day Brindisi), which minted a number of bronze nominals on the Roman ponderal standard from about 215 BCE up until the end of the 2d century BCE. [ATTACH=full]1305597[/ATTACH] My most recent purchases from this region are as follows: [ATTACH=full]1305602[/ATTACH] Calabria, Hyria / Orra Ae Biuncia c. end of 2d century BCE - beginning of first century BCE Obv: Bust of Venus facing r., head crowned with laurel wreath. Sceptre or spear in front of throat, angled backwards (not clearly visible on my specimen). Rev: Dove flying r. with outstretched wings, OR - RA below with two pellets indicating mark of value. c. 15 mm  This coin is a rarer denomination of the series. The most common (but still scarce) nominal is the Ae quincuncia (5 uncia) coin with Venus on the obverse and Eros advancing r. with lyre on the reverse. [ATTACH=full]1305603[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1305604[/ATTACH] Calabria, Taras / Tarentum Ar Diobol, c. 3d century BCE Obv. Head of Athena facing right, wearing crested Athenian helmet adorned with Scylla. Rev. Heracles wrestling Nemean lion, "TA" above, thunderbolt (?) to left, "H?" between legs. Ex. Koelner Muenzkabinett I bought this coin because it is most likely a Messapian imitation instead of an official issue, due to the somewhat cruder style of the reverse and obverse. It is the first imitative issue that I have seen for sale, and I wanted one to add to the other diobols in my collection. The coin has a significant amount of horn silver and is nicely toned. The Tarentine diobol coinage was minted in large quantities and is a veritable phenomenon worthy of further study. Alberto D'Andrea will be releasing a comprehensive study on this coinage by the end of the year (I've helped with some of the translations into English). I've paraphrased a few relevant excerpts from this work below. Numerous hypotheses have been put forth regarding the origins of Tarentum's diobol coinage, but the fall of Kroton (389- 387 BC) through the actions of Dionysius I of Syracuse likely sparked the genesis of the series. Tarentum likely supported the arrival of Dionysius I on the peninsula, who in return ensured that Tarentum was selected to lead the new Italiote League. It is likely that this sequence of military events led to the origin of the diobol series, placing their initial production at around 380 BC. The iconography of Heracles fighting the Nemean lion was likely selected because of the demigod’s enormous veneration within the city of Tarentum. This high regard may stem from a legend where the oecist Phalanthos, one of Tarentum's early leaders, boasted a direct descent from Heracles. Hoard evidence suggests that production peaked at the end of the Second Samnite War (304 BC), around the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. At this time, the various Italiote cities began to come together commercially, cushioning Tarentum from the growing power of Rome. The subsequent explosion of diobol production spread to Metapontum, Kailia, Tiati, Arpi, Neapolis, Peuceta, and Rubi; in addition, numerous imitative productions were issued by indigenous Apulian, Lucanian and Samnite centers. Examples of these emissions have been found from Campania to Apulia, and also circulated within the territory of the Samnites, who harboured ongoing feelings of revenge against Rome for repeatedly humiliating and imposing ruinous conditions on their people. It is highly likely that Tarentum financed these indigenous emissions. With such a massive adoption and production of this coinage, Tarentum assured Rome’s exclusion from commercial interests in the region, which is evidenced by the numerous hoards within the Tarentine region containing no Roman currency (at least not until the definitive fall of Pyrrhus).[/QUOTE]

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