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9
Calabria, Taras. Pyrrhos of Epiros. Gold Hemistater (4.28 g), ca. 276-272 BC. Head of Herakles right,
wearing lion’s skin headdress. Rev. TAPANTIN
W
N, Taras (or Phalanthos?), holding reins and trident,
driving galloping biga right; in upper right field, AP monogram; below horses’ forelegs, NK monogram.
Fischer-Bossert G30 (V26/R30); Vlasto 30 (same dies); SNG ANS 1037 (same dies); HN Italy 985. NGC
grade XF; Strike: 5/5, Surface: 3/5. Fine style.
$1,500
Stunning Herakleia Silver Nomos
10
Lucania, Herakleia. Silver Nomos (7.74 g), ca. 390-340 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing crested At-
tic helmet decorated with Skylla throwing stone, single-pendant earring and necklace, before, EY. Rev:
[|-HPAK
L
]-EI
W
N, Herakles standing facing, leaning right, strangling the Nemean lion; behind, [A
P
O
L
]
and club; below, oinochoe. Van Keuren 51 (same obv. die as illus.); Work 47 (same dies); HN Italy 1378.
A nice bold strike, excellent detail, and superbly toned. One of the finest to have come on the market in
decades. Superb Extremely Fine.
$3,500
From the Dionysus Collection.
Ex Gemini VII (9 January 2011), lot 30.
Herakleia in Lucania was a joint foundation of the Dorian Tarentines and the Ionian (Athenian) Thurians on the
Gulf of Taranto in 432 BC. Although it rose to prominence primarily under the patronage of Taras, the city’s dual or-
igin was frequently advertised on the coinage of Herakleia. A head of Athena similar to that found on the coin-
age of Thourioi and alluding to that city’s Athenian origins appears on the obverse while Herakles is depict-
ed slaying the Nemean Lion on the reverse. The hero at once serves as a badge of the city bearing his name and as a
symbol of the Dorian Greeks as a whole since all of the Dorians traced their ancestry back to the sons of Herakles.