Coins of Sybaris

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The silver coins issued by the city of Sybaris are staters weighing approximately 8.00 g. In their coin base they are based on the Achaean standard, the stater was a tridrachm. There were also rare smaller fractions such drachmas , Tetrobole, Triobole and Obole coined.

Stater of Sybaris, 550-510 BC. Chr.

Chronology of coinage

Sybaris minted coins from around 550 BC. Until around 400 BC BC, although many problems in the chronology and dating of the coinage arise from the fact that the city was destroyed or abandoned several times and rebuilt at a later date.

  • A certain date is the first destruction of Sybaris by Croton in 510 BC. The first, around 550 BC. Phase of coinage ( Sybaris I ) started in Sybaris ended.
  • A second period lasted from approx. 510 to 475 BC. BC ( Sybaris II ). A joint coinage with croton falls into this, which showed a tripod as a symbol of Croton on the front and the bull as a symbol of Sybaris on the reverse. Furthermore, refugees from the destroyed Sybaris in the Laos colony initiated the first coinage based on the sybaritic model; Staters, drachmas and trioboles were pronounced. However, Kroton destroyed Sybaris around 475/470 BC. BC again and thus ended this phase of coinage.
  • A new foundation ( Sybaris III ), stimulated by the own daughter town of Poseidonia , only existed for a few years, approx. From 453 to 448 BC. Before the rule fell back to Croton. The coins of this period bear the following motifs: the stater on the obverse Poseidon , symbolizing Poseidonia's participation in the founding, and on the reverse a bull, the common motif of Sybaris. The trioboles and oboles in turn bear Poseidon on the front and a bird on the back.
  • As Diodorus reports, an appeal by Athens led to the founding of Sybaris IV in the years 446-440 BC. This appeal resulted in a large influx of people from all over the Greek world, which soon led to a dispute between the original inhabitants and the newcomers and as a result of which the natives were expelled from the city. The name of Sybaris IV was changed to Thurioi by the remaining inhabitants . In the phase called Sybaris IV , drachms, trioboles and trihemiobols were minted, which show the head of Athena as motifs on the front and the bull with the head turned back on the back.
  • The staters and trioboles of the last phase ( Sybaris V ), a foundation of the displaced natives of Sybaris on the river Traeis (today's Trionto ), bear a bull, a Poseidon or a rider as images.

Motifs

The coins of the Lower Italian city of Sybaris, a Greek colony of Achaeans and Troizans , show a bull looking around on the front and back. This is framed by a braided band and stands on an equally patterned base line. Below this or in the picture field there are occasionally the first letters of the city ΣY in Greek letters. The choice of the coin design remains unclear; the bull could refer to the wealth of the city and its origin, cattle breeding. The bull could also represent the river god of the local river Krathis . Also planting cities of Sybaris as Posidonia, Laos, Skidros , Siris and Pyxos , took the picture of the bull on their coins. Laos, where many inhabitants of Sybaris moved to after its destruction in 510 BC. BC, depicts a human- faced river god on its coins . This motif can be influenced by the sybaritic bull, as both are looking around. Siris and Pyxos adopt the sybaritic coin motif on a joint coinage and add their city names. The bull motif is also used in the joint coinage of Sybaris with Croton. The illustration of the sybaritic motif on the back reflects the balance of power in which the two cities stood in relation to one another.

particularities

The sybaritic coins are an important reference point for the monetization of the western Mediterranean area. They can only be used after the city was founded around 720 BC. BC, but must be before the destruction by Croton handed down by Herodotus around 510 BC. Have been minted. This resulted in a terminus ante quem for the first coins in southern Italy . The sybaritic coins were made using the Inca technique typical of the first coins in southern Italy . Both sides of the coin show the same image, a bull looking around, the obverse reproducing it in raised relief and the reverse in recessed relief. Due to this special technique, the images are reversed to one another.

literature

  • Colin M. Kraay : The Coinage of Sybaris after 510 . In: Numismatic Chronicle , 1958, pp. 13-37.
  • Giovanni Gorini: La monetazione incusa della Magna Grecia . Bellinzona 1975, pp. 103-113.
  • N. Keith Rutter: Historia Numorum Italy . London 2001, pp. 144-146.

Web links

Commons : Coins of Sybaris  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ N. Keith Rutter: Historia Numorum Italy . London 2001, pp. 144-146.
  2. ↑ Herodotus , Histories 6, 21.
  3. ↑ Diodorus 11:48 , 4.
  4. ↑ Diodorus 11, 90, 3.
  5. ↑ Diodorus 12:10.
  6. ↑ Herodotus, Histories 6, 21, 1.
  7. ↑ Incuse coins: coins with the raised image of the obverse depressed on the reverse. See Helmut Kahnt, Bernd Knorr: Old measures, coins and weights. A lexicon. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1986, licensed edition Mannheim / Vienna / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-411-02148-9 , p. 385 (cited).