Ancient Greek - Boy on a Dolphin - AR Nomos - Circa 280 BC - Presented in an 14K gold mount
$2,600
Denomination: AR Nomos
Date: 280 BCE
Mint: CALABRIA, Tarentum
Description: Taras (Boy on the Dolphin) Obverse: Youth on horseback right, crowning horse; ΣA to left, APE/ΘΩN in two lines below. Reverse: Taras holding tripod, astride dolphin left; CAΣ below.
Mount: 14K Gold on a Sterling Silver bracelet
History: Upon the obverse of this coin a young man is riding a dolphin. He is one of two mythological characters- Taras or Phalanthos. Two sides of the same story, much like the sides of a coin, neither character exist in each other's mythology. Likely two opposing versions of the founding story of the city- one more rooted in historical reality than the other. On the Reverse of the coin is a youth riding a horse, which is a tribute to the importance to horse racing to the people of Taras and the cultural significance of great beast.
Taras, who inspired the naming of the city where this coin was minted, was the son of Poseidon, God of the sea, and a Nymph. After angering his father, he was thrown into the sea to drown. But his father then took pity upon him and sent a dolphin to rescue him. It swam him back to land, and where he stepped onto the shore, he decided he wanted to build a city that very spot. So he had the dolphin bring him a village upon it's back, and he then founded and named the new city after himself.
The opposing story is that of Phalanthos, who was a hero amongst his people. Born out of wedlock to a Lacedaemonian father and a Spartan mother during the Messenian war, he belonged to the outcast group of Parthenians, rejected by the Lacedaemonians for their illegitimacy. Phalanthos led the group in a demand for recognition and was met with a swift denunciation and rejection. The Parthenians were driven out for their insolence, and they sought the guidance of the Oracle of Delphi. She told them of another land where they would soon come to find a city by the name Taras.So, around the year 708 B.C.E. the Parthenians sailed to the Italian peninsula and founded the colony of Taras. It is said that Phalanthos was shipwrecked before reaching land but was saved by a dolphin that carried him to the shore.
Denomination: AR Nomos
Date: Circa 280 BCE
Mount: Mounted in 14K gold
Description: Calabria, Tarentum, "Boy on a Dolphin"
Obverse: Taras astride dolphin left, distaff over his left shoulder, ivy leaf behind and waves below.
Reverse: Helmeted, nude warrior on horse prancing right
ID20233
