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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ancientnut, post: 2101519, member: 73212&quot;]I have been asking myself this question since I purchased this coin:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://s95.photobucket.com/user/ancientnut/media/2Tarentum_zps1b462d73.jpg.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://s95.photobucket.com/user/ancientnut/media/2Tarentum_zps1b462d73.jpg.html" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l155/ancientnut/2Tarentum_zps1b462d73.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse is described as: Founder seated left on chair, holding bird by the ends of its wings in extended right hand.</p><p><br /></p><p>I found a publication online which helped to solve the mystery. It is Vlasto, Michel Pandely: Taras Oikistes, a contribution to Tarentine Numismatics, published in Numismatic Notes and Monographs 15, 1922. Describing this type, on page 192, the author states:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;On this rare die, Taras holds a small bird having its feet tied with a lemniskos [red woolen ribbon]...During games and festivities, doves and other birds were released after having had their feet tied with leminiskoi, so that they might be easily caught by the spectators.&quot;</p><p><a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000006169213;view=1up;seq=204" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000006169213;view=1up;seq=204" rel="nofollow">http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000006169213;view=1up;seq=204</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Next question: Why was this done? The likely answer was provided when I googled &quot;lemniskoi&quot; and found that these red ribbons were sometimes tied to the horns of sacrificial bulls. I assume, therefore, that the spectators who caught the birds used them as special sacrificial victims.</p><p><br /></p><p>Researching our coins can sometimes provide strange and interesting results![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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