Temesa Allies with Kroton
BRUTTIUM, Kroton. Alliance issue with Temesa. Circa 430-420 BC. AR Nomos (18.5mm, 7.99 g, 11h). Tripod, legs surmounted by wreaths and terminating in lion's feet; retrograde (koppa)PO to left, retrograde TE to right / Corinthian helmet right; retrograde (koppa)PO below. Montesanti Group III, XI-3; HN Italy 2122; SNG ANS 448 (same dies). Lightly toned. Good VF.
Ex MACM inventory MMoCA2C, Nomos FPL (with Classical Numismatic Group; Winter/Spring 2010), no. 6.
In 510 BC, Kroton destroyed its rival, Sybaris. Current scholarship indicates that the city of Temesa was associated with Sybaris, and that, following the destruction of the latter, Temesa came under the domination of Kroton. Around this time, the present issue was struck at Kroton, while a similar issue was struck at Temesa (HN Italy 2566). It has been thought that these parallel coin issues represented a military alliance between the cities, apparently based on the military nature of the iconography. However, no historical record of such an alliance exists. Both coins exhibit a tripod on the obverse and a helmet on the reverse. Rather than the helmet indicating a military purpose, it is more likely that it is simply the civic badge of Temesa, and therefore each city’s badge appears on the coins. As such, it is more likely that the coinage represents a political/civic alliance between Kroton and Temesa. The Temesan coins also feature a pair of greaves on the obverse, which may be an attribute of that city’s most prominent deity, Polites (see Strabo, VI.1.5).
