Boy on a Dolphin: The Timeless Coins of Tarentum By David S. Michaels
Tarentum (modern Taranto) was founded circa 708 BC by political refugees from Sparta, and eventually grew into the largest, most populous, and most prosperous of all the Greek cities of Italy. Located on the instep arch the Italian boot, Tarentum controlled the only natural harbor along the southern coastline, as well as fertile olive groves, herds of sheep, and tidal beds of the dye-producing murex mollusk. Two tales recount the founding of the city, both of them involving mythical or semi-mythical heroes who nearly drowned and were saved by dolphins. Taras, the mythical one, was the son of Poseidon by the nymph Satyra (the harbor of Taranto was named Satyrion in her honor and is still called Torre Saturo). Like other half-mortals, he sought out a normal life as a sailor, but his ship foundered in a storm and he was plunged into the sea. Poseidon sent a dolphin to rescue him, and he rode on its back all the way to Italy, where he founded a city on the spot he made landfall. An almost identical story is told about Phalanthos, revolutionary leader of Figure 1: Incuse Issue Circa 510-500 BC. From CNG 112, lot 9; Ex Michael Gasvoda and Laurence Stack Collections. the Parthenians, denizens of Sparta who were neither slaves nor citizens. Rather than enfranchise them, the Spartan kings sent the Parthenians out to found a colony in Italy. Again, one of the ships sank and Phalanthos was rescued by a dolphin. He and the Parthenians originally settled at the harbor of Satyrion before moving about 15 kilometers inland and seizing a local Italic settlement. Via war, commerce, diplomacy, and trade, the Spartan outcasts steadily expanded their realm and embellished their city over the next two centuries. The civic government at first followed the oligarchic form of Sparta, but was overthrown by a democratic revolution following a military debacle circa 473 BC. Tarentum first struck silver coins circa 510 BC, adopting the unusual spread flan with raised and incuse designs on opposite sides already in use by several other GrecoItalian cities, as well as the Achaian weight standard of about 7.8 grams per nomos. The earliest design featured a kneeling nude male figure identified as Hyakinthos, a handsome Spartan prince beloved by Apollo. This was quickly replaced by the familiar image of a youth, either Taras or Phalanthos, astride a leaping dolphin. (Modern cataloguers use either name to describe the dolphin-rider, but the Tarentines likely regarded him as representing both founders). Below the dolphin is a murex shell, a major source of Tarentum’s wealth.
Figure 2: Tarentum nomos circa 415 BC. CNG 112, lot 11. From the Matthew Curtis Collection.
About 500 BC, the Tarentines converted to a standard compact fabric featuring relief designs on both sides. Over the next 75 years they maintained the dolphin-rider obverse but experimented with a variety of different reverse designs, including a hippocamp, four-spoked wheel, a female head (probably Satyra), and a seated male figure, possibly representing Phalanthos, spinning wool. Circa 425 BC, they adopted a male horseman as a reverse motif, no doubt representing the famed Tarentine light cavalry then rising to prominence in the Greek military world. The horseman soon moved to the obverse and remained there, in varying incarnations, for the next two centuries. The coins came to be referred to as “horsemen,” in much the same way as Athens had its “owls” and Corinth had its “colts”. Figure 3: Tarentum nomos circa 390-385 BC. CNG 112, lot 16. From the Matthew Curtis Collection.
The subtle changes in coinage design reflected the shifting political and military situation in southern Italy between 425 and 275 BC. Tarentum’s wealth, prominence, and close ties to Sparta drew it into conflict with other Greek city-states, the surrounding native Italic peoples, and finally with the rising power of Rome to the
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