4756 [Homebutton][Shopping Header] [Image] Item Sold At Auction #23 ----------------------------------- Lot Number: 61645 Estimate: $500.00 Final Sale Price: $341.00 ----------------------------------- Denomination: Nomos Grade: Good VF choice metal Reference: SNG Copenhagen 1463 (same obv. die) Lucania, Thourioi. Circa 282 BC? AR Nomos (7.76 gm). Head of Athena right, wearing Attic helmet decorated with Skylla bearing trident / QOURIW, bull kneeling right; SI above, with flying Nike placing fillet on bull's head. SNG Copenhagen 1463 (same obverse die). Good VF, choice metal. Estimate $500. Thourioi staters are generally dated to the mid 4th century BC, and there seems to be no standard reference providing a closer absolute or relative chronology of the great mass of coinage of this city. The Nike types are a scarcer variety, and stylistic and hoard evidence suggests a later date for the issue. With few specific dates provided in the city's history, it is dangerous to try to tie this issue to one of the few events of which we do have record, but 282 BC offers an inviting possibility. Early in that year Thourioi was besieged by a force of Lucanian natives. (Thourioi, settled by colonists from mainland Greece, was always on hostile terms with its neighbors.) In this case, fearing defeat, the Thourioi appealed to Rome for aid, whereupon the general C. Fabricius Luscinus was sent forth to drive off the Lucanians. This coin type might represent Rome offering Victory (and protection - welcome or not) to Thourioi. The city's relief would be short-lived. Later in the same year a Tarentine army attacked and sacked the new Roman ally, with unfortunate results for Tarentum when Rome retaliated and imposed its rule at that city also. Thourioi would survive under much reduced circumstances, and strike nomoi on a reduced standard until the 2nd century BC, when it was refounded as a Roman colony, Copia. Used by permission of CNG, www.historicalcoins.com