TERINA in BRUTTIUM 350BC Nymph Crab Crescent Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i57250

Item: i57250

 Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek city of
Terina
 
in

Bruttium
Bronze 17mm (2.85 grams) Struck circa 350-275 B.C.
Reference: SNG ANS 889; HN Italy 2646; Halloway & Jenkins Terina 121
Head of nymph left.
TE, Crab; crescent between claws.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

A
nymph (Greek:
νύμφη, nymphē) in
Greek mythology
and in
Latin mythology
is a minor female nature deity 
typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from 
goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, 
and are usually depicted as beautiful, young
nubile
maidens who love to dance and sing; 
their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and 
daughters of the Greek
polis
. They are believed to dwell in 
mountains and
groves
, by springs and rivers, and also in 
trees and in valleys and cool
grottoes
. Although they would never die of old 
age nor illness, and could give birth to fully immortal children if mated to a 
god, they themselves were not necessarily immortal, and could be beholden to 
death in various forms.
Charybdis
and
Scylla
were once nymphs.

Other nymphs, always in the shape of young maidens, were part of the
retinue
of a god, such as
Dionysus
,
Hermes
, or
Pan
, or a goddess, generally the huntress
Artemis
. Nymphs were the frequent target of
satyrs
.

Etymology

Nymphs are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of 
nature, most often identified with the life-giving outflow of springs: as
Walter Burkert
(Burkert 1985:III.3.3) remarks, 
“The idea that rivers are gods and springs divine nymphs is deeply rooted not 
only in poetry but in belief and ritual; the worship of these deities is limited 
only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality.”

The
Greek
word
νύμφη has “bride” and “veiled” among its meanings: hence a marriageable 
young woman. Other readers refer the word (and also
Latin
nubere and
German
Knospe) to a root expressing the 
idea of “swelling” (according to
Hesychius
, one of the meanings of
νύμφη is “rose-bud”).

Adaptations

The Greek nymphs were spirits invariably bound to places, not unlike the 
Latin genius loci
, and the difficulty of 
transferring their cult may be seen in the complicated myth that brought
Arethusa
to Sicily. In the works of the 
Greek-educated
Latin poets
, the nymphs gradually absorbed into 
their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams (Juturna,
Egeria
,
Carmentis
,
Fontus
), while the
Lymphae
(originally Lumpae), Italian 
water-goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of their names, could be 
identified with the Greek Nymphae. The mythologies of classicizing Roman poets 
were unlikely to have affected the rites and cult of individual nymphs venerated 
by country people in the springs and clefts of
Latium
. Among the
Roman
literate class, their sphere of influence 
was restricted, and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery 
element. Nymphs are also portrayed as selfish and as attention seekers who walk 
around naked in the middle of forests.

Originally a colony of Croton, Terina was founded late in the 
6th Century B.C. on a site that has not certainly been identified, but which 
likely is beneath the modern city of Sant’Eufemia Vetere on the south-western 
coast of the Italian peninsula. It seems to have remained under the influence of 
its mother city until 365 B.C., when it came under the dominion of the Lucanians, 
who nine years later were replaced by the Bruttians. Except for a brief 
intervention by Alexander the Molossian in about 330/325 B.C., Terina remained 
under the Bruttian yoke until 203 B.C., when it was razed by the army of 
Hannibal. If coinage may be taken as a yardstick for civic pride, the spirit of 
this city remained intact despite its history of continual subjugation to 
stronger peoples. Its ‘independent’ silver coinage spans more than 150 years, 
and with few exceptions its silver coins feature on the obverse a female head, 
and on the reverse a female figure (usually winged) standing, seated or taking 
flight. The engravers at Terina demonstrated their creativity by creating a 
significant variety of styles and sub-types within this comparatively narrow 
range of subject matter. This coin was struck from one of the most accomplished 
sets of dies from Terina. The portrait clearly is meant to represent a divinity 
(most probably the fountain nymph Terina) but in this case the figure on the 
reverse is not the usual winged figure (Victory or a syncretic figure), but a 
wingless female. A wingless figure occurs only one other time on the silver 
coinage of Terina – on the very first issue, on which the figure holds a branch, 
is contained within a wreath, and is identified by the inscription as Nike; 
Poole and Head specifically identified her as Nike Apteros. There is less 
certainty about the figure on this coin, which ultimately Holloway and Jenkins 
consider a personification of the city itself, being crowned by a small Victory 
which flies toward her from behind. Since the coinage of Terina has strong 
agonistic content, we might consider this remarkable composition to celebrate an 
athletic victory.