TARENTUM in CALABRIA 280BC Hemiobol RARE Silver Greek Coin Shell Dolphin i53710

Item: i53710

Authentic Ancient 

Coin of:

Greek city of 
Tarentum 
in

Calabria
Silver Hemiobol 7mm (0.28 grams)

Struck circa 280-228 B.C.
Reference: Vlasto 1550 var.
Cockle shell.
Dolphin left.

Founded jointly by Taras and Thourioi in 433 B.C., it later 
became the seat of the general assembly of the Italiot Greeks: finally 
surrendered to the Romans in 272 B.C.

You are bidding on the exact 

Guarantee of Authenticity.

Taranto was founded in 706 BC by

Dorian Greek
 

immigrants as the only

Spartan
colony, 

and its origin is peculiar: the founders were

Partheniae
, 

sons of unmarried Spartan women and

Perioeci
 

(free men, but not citizens of Sparta); these unions were permitted by the 

Spartans to increase the number of soldiers (only the citizens of Sparta could 

become soldiers) during the bloody

Messenian

wars

, but later they were nullified, and the sons were forced to leave. 

Phalanthus, the parthenian leader, went to

Delphi
to 

consult the oracle
: 

the puzzling answer designated the harbour of Taranto as the new home of the 

exiles. The Partheniae arrived in Apulia, and founded the city, naming it

Taras after the son of the Greek sea god,

Poseidon
, 

and of a local nymph, Satyrion. According to other sources,

Heracles
 

founded the city. Another tradition indicates Taras as the founder of the city; 

the symbol of the Greek city (as well as of the modern city) depicts the legend 

of Taras being saved from a shipwreck by riding a dolphin that was sent to him 

by Poseidon. Taranto increased its power, becoming a commercial power and a 

sovereign city of

Magna 

Graecia
, ruling over the

Greek colonies

in southern Italy. Its independece and power came to an end 

as the Romans expanded throughout Italy. Taranto won the first of two wars 

against Rome for the control of Southern Italy: it was helped by Pyrrhus, king 

of Greek Epirus, who surprised Rome with the use of elephants in battle, a thing 

never seen before by the Romans. The second war was conversely won by Rome, that 

afterwards cut off Taranto from the centre of Mediterrean trade, by connecting 

the Via Appia directly to the port of Brundisium.

Calabria (Greek:

Καλαβρία), in

Antiquity
 

known as Bruttium, is a

region

in

southern

Italy
, 

south of Naples
, 

located at the “toe” of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the 

region of Basilicata

, to the south-west by the region of

Sicily
, to the 

west by the

Tyrrhenian Sea

, and to the east by the

Ionian Sea
. 

The region covers 15,080 km² and has a population of 2 million. The regional 

capital is the city of

Catanzaro
. 

The other two main cities are

Reggio Calabria

and

Cosenza
. The

demonym
of 

Calabria is Calabrian (Italian: calabrese).

Calabria was first settled by Italic

Oscan

-speaking tribes. Two of these tribes included the

Oenotri
 

(roughly translated into the “vine-cultivators”) and the Itali. Greek contact 

with the latter resulted in the entire pela (modern Italy) taking the name of 

the tribe.

Greeks

settled heavily along the coast at an early date and several of their 

settlements, including the first Italian city called Rhegion (Reggio 

Calabria), and the next ones

Sybaris
,

Kroton (Crotone), 

and Locri
, were 

numbered among the leading cities of

Magna 

Graecia
during the

6th
 

and 5th centuries BC

.