Two Outstanding Nomoi from Kaulonia
BRUTTIUM, Kaulonia. Circa 525-500 BC. AR Nomos (30.5mm, 8.33 g, 12h). Apollo advancing right, holding branch aloft in right hand, left arm extended, upon which a small daimon, holding branch in each hand, runs right, head reverted; KAVΛ to left; to right, stag standing right, head reverted; dot-and-cable border / Incuse of obverse, but daimon, branch, and stag’s antlers in outline and no ethnic; radiate border. Noe,
Caulonia, Group A, 5 (same dies); Gorini 3; HN Italy 2035; SNG ANS 142 (same dies); SNG München 1396 (same dies); Gulbenkian 119 (same dies); Hermitage Sale II 163 (same obv. die); Hunterian 2 (same obv. die). Deep iridescent tone, trace deposits, minor edge split. EF.
Ex Nomos 13 (7 October 2016), lot 116; Monetarium FPL 47 (Spring 1987), no. 5.
Kaulonia was founded in the 7th century BC by Achaean Greeks. The location, on the underside of Italy’s “toe,” has long since disappeared beneath the waves, but marine archaeologists have located more than 100 fluted columns, likely for a large shrine to Apollo, the deity depicted on the city’s beautiful coinage. On this exceptional piece, Apollo’s nude body is shown striding right, with a small winged daimon on his left arm; to his right stands a stag, sacred to both Apollo and his sister Artemis. The unusual fabric of this piece follows a style peculiar to Greek southern Italy in the archaic period: a broad, thin flan, obverse depicted in relief, the reverse repeating the obverse motif but incuse, and reversed. The reasons for the popularity of this fabric are poorly understood; some scholars have postulated a connection to the mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras, who was active in Italy during this period.
