Taras, Calabria (hippocamp coll.)

[b]Taras, Calabria (500-473 BC.) AR Stater[/b] [u]Obv[/u]: Taras seated right on dolphin holding cuttlefish. [u]Rev[/u]: Hippocamp facing right; scallop shell below; TARA legend in upper left field. [u]Attribution[/u]: Vlasto 99; cf. Sear 224 [u]Provenance[/u]: ex. Ponterio & Associates CICF 138, (lot#1420, 4.1.06). [u]Weight[/u]: 8.11 gm [u]Maximal Diameter[/u]: 18.53 mm [u]Axis[/u]: 12 [u]Note[/u]: Taras was, according to Greek mythology, the son of Poseidon and of the nymph Satyrion. Taras is the eponymous founder of the Greek colony of Taras (Tarentum, modern Taranto), in Magna Graecia. Note that a harbour close by Taranto is still called Torre Saturo (derived from Satyrion). It was in Torre Saturo, almost 15 km south of Taranto, that Spartan colonists settled their first colony in Taranto zone. Later, around 706 BC, they conquered the Iapygian city of Taranto. GK217