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Greek city of Rhegion in Bruttium
Bronze 9mm (0.85 grams) Struck circa 415-387 B.C.
Reference: Rutter, South, Group X; HN Italy 2524; Herzfelder, Rhegion, pl. 20, VII; SNG ANS 684; Laffaille Coll. 98
Lion (scalp) mask facing.
ΡΗΓΙΝΩΝ, Laureate head of Apollo right.
Destroyed by Dionysios I of Syracuse in 387 B.C. and restored some years alter by Dionysios II, 356-350 B.C.
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 In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo, is one of the most important and diverse of the Olympian deities. The ideal of the kouros (a beardless youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. Apollo was worshiped in both ancient Greek and Roman religion, as well as in the modern Greco–Roman Neopaganism.
As the patron of Delphi (Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an oracular god — the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing were associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague as well as one who had the ability to cure. Amongst the god’s custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. As the leader of the Muses (Apollon Musagetes) and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became a common attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans.
In Hellenistic times, especially during the third century BCE, as Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks with Helios, god of the sun, and his sister Artemis similarly equated with Selene, goddess of the moon. In Latin texts, on the other hand, Joseph Fontenrose declared himself unable to find any conflation of Apollo with Sol among the Augustan poets of the first century, not even in the conjurations of Aeneas and Latinus in Aeneid XII (161–215). Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the third century CE.
Rhegion in Bruttium (Italy)
After Cumae, Reggio is one of the oldest Greek colonies in southern Italy. The colony was settled by the inhabitants of Chalcis and Messenia in 720 BC on the site of an older settlement, Erythrà (Ερυθρά), meaning “the red one”.
This dated back to the 3rd millennium BC and was established by the Ausones. The last Ausonian ruler was the legendary king Italus (from whom the name of Italy is derived).[4] King Iokastos is buried on the Punta Calamizzi promontory, called “Pallantiòn”, where Greek settlers later arrived. The colony retained the earlier name of “Rhegion” (Ρήγιoν).
Reggio was one of the most important cities in Magna Grecia, reaching great economic and political power during the 5th and 6th centuries BC under the Anaxilas government. It allowed Reggio to rule over all the Strait, including Zancle (modern Messina). Later, the polis of Rhegion reached great artistic and cultural heights with its philosophic Pythagorean school, as well as sculpture and poetry schools, from where came leaders such as Pythagoras of Rhegium and Ibycus. Later, Rhegion allied with Athens during the Peloponnesian War but in 387 BC, the city was taken by the Syracusans.
As an independent city, Rhegium was an important ally and “socia navalis” of Rome. Then during the Imperial age it became one of the most important and flourishing cities of southern Italy because it was the seat of the “Corrector”, the Governor of the “Regio II Lucania et Bruttii” (province of Lucany and Brutium). It was devastated by several major earthquakes and associated tsunami during the Roman Empire when it was called “Rhegium Julium.” It was a noble Roman city.
During the Byzantine Age, Reggio became the capital of the “metropolis of the Byzantine possessions in southern Italy”, and later capital of the Duchy of Calabria and linchpin of the Greek church in Italy. During the 8th century, the city became a Holy See.
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