A Magnificent Zeus Stater of Metapontion
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Lucania, Metapontion AR Stater. Circa 333-330 BC. Laureate head of Zeus right, ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΟΣ before, Δ behind / Ear of barley with leaf to left, upon which Silenos crouches; META to right, [A]Δ below. Johnston class A, 2.1 (same dies); HN Italy 1557; SNG ANS 451 (same dies); SNG Lloyd 373 (same obv. die); SNG Copenhagen -; SNG München 988 (same obv. die); SNG Manchester 202 (same dies); Gillet Collection (photofile) 193. 7.86g, 21mm, 1h. Good Extremely Fine. Very Rare, far superior to the Gillet specimen, and among the finest specimens known of this issue which is very seldom found in anything but a heavily worn or corroded state. 30,000 Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 4, 27 February 1991, lot 15. Metapontion was among the first cities of Magna Graecia to issue coinage, and indeed long preceded its later rival Tarentum in this respect. The choice of the barley ear as the civic emblem is unusual in that the other cities all struck coinage displaying types relating to their foundation myths or principal cults. Metapontion’s choice may well reflect a significant economic reliance on its major export, a hypothesis supported by the preponderance of Demeter portraits on its later coinage, a convention seemingly broken only in exceptional circumstances, such as the occasional Hygeia issue that was probably elicited by concern over pestilence, flooding or drought. The city’s reliance on its agricultural exports made it particularly vulnerable to the increasing barbarian attacks in the fourth century that eventually caused Tarentum to request the assistance of the Epeirote king Alexander in driving the aggressive Lucani and other tribes back into the interior. It was this period of strife that caused the only significant variation in the coinage of Metapontion - the new demands placed on the city by the war aginst the Lucani and its support for Alexander of Epeiros’ campaign are undoubtedly the cause of the sudden rise in output of the mint, as well as the hasty overstriking of Pegasi. It was at this time that militaristic types were introduced, engraved in double relief, depicting the helmeted portraits of the city’s founder Leukippos, along with the deities Zeus, Athena ‘Tharragoras’, Apollo and Herakles - a fitting series of coinage for a Hellenic city threated by barbaric aggressors. Indeed it is not coincidental that the contemporary issues at Tarentum similarly allude to war, depicting Taras armed, the horseman armed, and sometimes accompanied by Nike. It is also probable that the appearance of the same signatures, notably KAL and API, represent a coordination of defence efforts at a federal level, rather than an artist’s signature as is often suggested. The head of Zeus shown here is remarkably similar in style to that god’s head which adorned the obverse of the issues which Alexander struck to pay his own troops, and also bears considerable similarity to the Zeus heads of Philip II of Macedon in much the same way that the Herakles stater resembles those of Alexander III ‘the Great’ to whom the Epeirote king was uncle through his sister Olympias. It is not hard to imagine that the notion of Greek civilisation waging a just war against a barbarian foe should have been readily espoused by the cities of Magna Graecia; as Alexander of Macedon campaigned in the East, so thus did Alexander of Epeiros in the West. The Epeirote king did not meet with the same success as his nephew however. At the Battle of Pandosia, the Greek phalanx was separated, surrounded and destroyed. In a famous passage of historical fiction, Livy narrates that as Alexander of Epeiros lay mortally wounded upon the field of battle he compared his fortunes to that of his illustrious nephew and said that the latter “waged war against women”. Certainly, the Lucani were competent and determined fighters, and the Greek defeat at Pandosia marked the end of Greek colonisation and expansion in Italy; the Greek cities would increasingly find themselves under pressure from the Oscan tribes.
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