The Delphic oracle and Pythagorean numerology? A tripod stater from Kroton

Here is another Greek silver coin from the lot that I bought recently (more here):

Bruttium, Kroton, AR nomos, ca. 480–430 BC. Obv: retrograde ϘPO; tripod with legs terminating in lion’s feet; to left, heron standing r. Rev: incuse tripod with central pellet. 18mm, 7.92g. Ref: HN Italy 2102; SNG ANS 261-2. Ex Teutoburger 138, lot 856 (part of); ex Albrecht&Hoffmann, auction XXIV, lot 67.

Kroton (today Crotone), located at the southern shore of the Gulf of Taranto in Italy, was founded by Achaean colonists at the end of the 8th century BC. According to legend, the city’s founding father Myscellus was advised to establish a settlement in Italy by the Delphic oracle. This founding myth might explain the tripod emblem of the city shown on my coin. The Pythia of the Delphic oracle took her seat on a tripod that was sacred to Apollo:

John Collier: Priestess of Delphi (1891). This 19th century painting shows the Pythia seated on the tripod associated with the Delphic oracle.

Furthermore, the tripod might also have been associated with the number three that in Pythagorean philosophy was considered sacred: three points are needed to define a triangle, which the Pythagoreans revered as a symbol of Apollo. The philosopher Pythagoras (c. 570–510 BC) himself had been, after all, a resident of Kroton. According to Diogenes Laertios, Pythagoras wielded considerable political power in the city. A direct connection between the incuse coinage of Magna Graecia and Pythagoras has thus been proposed frequently in older numismatic scholarship (especially by the British art historian Charles Theodore Seltman), but this position is very much disputed in more recent publications.

The location of Kroton/Crotone at the Gulf of Taranto

The earliest coins from Kroton stem from the 6th century BC and have considerably broader but thinner flans. My coin is from a later period when the flans had become thicker and less fragile. It certainly feels very chunky and (almost) archaic in hand.

It’s typical for early coins from Magna Graecia to show an incuse version of the obverse design on the reverse. Contemporary coins from, for example, Metapontum and Sybaris show the same feature. The exact reasoning behind this is not known. Personally, I like this type of design because it reminds me of my main collecting field, medieval bracteates:

Lindau, royal mint, AR bracteate penny, ca. 1295–1335. Obv: linden branch with three leaves and twelve blossoms in fields. Rev: negative design (bracteate). 20mm, 0.37g. Ref: Berger 2528–2531.

Finally and although my coin came with a respectable 1970s German auction provenance, I was a bit suspicious because of the rather unregular ethnic on the obverse. Yet, a bit of sleuthing produced a couple of die matches, including the two coins below, which were sold by CNG and Leu. Looking at the other coins from the same obverse die, I suspect that this die was re-engraved after having seen considerable wear, leaving visible traces of the original ethnic “ϘPO” below the new letters:




Please feel free to show your own tripods, incuse reverses, and coins from Magna Graecia!

 

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Nice writeup and great coins, @Orielensis !

If you do not pay attention, it looks like the feet of the tripod are Pythia’s feet, giving her a weird stance!

Tripod


Mysia, Kyzikos
Æ12 1.2g, 6h; c. 400 BC - 3rd century BC.
Obv.: Head of Kore Soteira right, hair bound in sakkos.
Rev.: KY - ZIH; Tripod; above, crown; below, tunny fish.
SNG France 430; BMC 141-3. EDIT add: Sear Greek 3862
Ex: @John Anthony

 

...danged ifn it don't.......on 2nd lQQk i see she's sitting on it....my handy-ess tripod coin...a holey Titus denarius i paid $55 for back in '14 that i now suspect is a fouree

 

Nice writeup !

I have several tripods of Croton, one of my favourite has a pretty nice "golden chocolate" patina.



Bruttium. Croton. 530-500 BC. Stater, 7,18g (12h)
O/ ϘΡΟ - TON. Tripod, legs surmounted by wreaths and terminating in lion's feet, two serpents emerging from the bowl,set on basis of three lines, the center dotted ; cable border.
R/ Same type, incuse ; striated border
HGC Italy 1444, HN Italy 2075, SNG ANS 235 (same obv. die), Gorini p.21 5 var.

 

My first show QPO and a stork with a large chunk missing from the obverse die. My staters come from the period called 'dumpy' in the literature.


On the second, the stork moves to the other side and we have QPOT. The reverse is quite off center but that has little effect on these later, thicker flans.


Here the reverse is an incuse eagle and the obverse legend runs right to left TOPQ.


My last 'dumpy' stater came after the end of the incuse period and shows an eagle perched on a deer head. The legend is QPO.


A 1/6 stater adds a Pegasos reverse


A trihemiobol? (0.9g) has a barley grain with a star, thundebolt and eagle on column on the reverse.


This later (330-299 BC) stater was purchased as a fourree from NFA in 1990 but I believe it is a victim of harsh removal of horn silver that was caked on the right side of the devices. It was not the only low end coin I bought from NFA with ID issues. They were not fond of handling coins in the $100 bracket. The obverse shows Apollo.

 

Great topic! An interesting read about Kroton's history and coinage is the short (23 pages with 17 plates) book by W. Gale The Sacred Tripod: Kroton and it's Coins, 1995.
Here is one of the early "spread flan" incuse coins:

AR stater 530-500 BC 6.97 gm
O: tripod; crane at right standing left with head raised; ϙΡΟ upward to left
R: incuse tripod; crane at right standing left with head raised; ϙΡΟ upward to left
SNG ANS 248; HN Italy 2081

And one of the later AR issues:

AR stater 300-280 BC 7.32 gm
O: laureate head Apollo right
R: tripod; filleted branch to left; ΚΡΟ downward to right
Ward 1902 (this coin); SNG ANS 389; HN Italy 2177

 

Kroton Ar nomos 480-430 BC Obv. Tripod in right field a stork Rv. Incuse Tripod. HN 2102 8.01 grms 22 mm Photo by W. Hansen It would seem that circa 480 BCthe spread flan nomoi were replaced by coins which had a more compact flan. Even though they had the same design and the reverse was still incuse. It would appear that this very revolutionary method of coin production eventually fell victim to some of the problems associated with their manufacture.

 

A later issue:
Æ Hexachalkon, Bruttium, Petelia, late 3rd century BC, ca. 220 - 200 BC.
Caltabiano, Petelia 2; HN Italy 2455; SNG ANS 603; SNG München 1554

17.5 mm, 5.085 g
Ob.: Laureate head of Apollo right.
Reverse: ΠETH-ΛINΩN(Petēlinōn) Tripod

Picture from CNG; ex. Coin Galleries (February 16, 1994, lot 178) Jack A. Frazer Collection

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That coin is fascinating. The Pegasus looks very much like the iconic coin type of Corinth. I remember reading somewhere that Kroton copied foreign designs on specific fractions in order to make it easier to exchange money of different weight standards. Two tripod Kroton staters and one Kroton 1/6 stater with a pegasus would, for example, equal two Corinthian pegasus staters. Do you maybe know more about this?

I stumbled across references to this publication when reading up on my coin, but since it was published in Australia and apparently had only a very small print run, it's extremely hard to get access to this book. There isn't a copy in my local German university library, and the Swiss national library network that I use for work doesn't have Gale's book either. A pity!

Hey @Alegandron , we appear to be Kyzikos tripod buddies:

Mysia, Kyzikos, AE18, 4th–3rd c. BC. Obv: head of Kore soteira wearing sakkos and earring r. Rev: K-Y/Z-I; tripod with three handles over tunny fish; monogram (AE) and control mark in fields. 18.5mm, 5.55g. Ref: see BMC 136–140 (different control marks); von Fritze 1917, no. 6.

 

It is a cool design!

 

No, I know nothing. I would have to research whether there was some sort of alliance between the cities but copies for the express purpose of currency exchange seems quite plausible.