Silver Nomos, Metapontum, 540-510 BCE

Silver Nomos, Metapontum, 540-510 BCE; Reverse: Incuse eight-grained barley ear slightly longer than obverse, square top.
Unidentified Artist, Greek

Type/Object Name: Ob: Narrow eight-grained barley ear with small additional terminal grains. Border of dots between two lines. Inscription 螠螘韦螒螤 (METAP = abbreviation of Metapontum). | Re: Incuse eight-grained barley ear slightly longer than obverse, square top.聽

Dates: 540-510 BCE

Medium: Silver, Nomos

Dimensions: Diameter 28.7 mm, Weight 8.10 g

Credit Line: On loan to 麻豆免费版下载Art Museum, courtesy of John Nebel.

Notes: Expressions of Civic Identity

The city of Metapontum, in southern Italy, used the special 鈥渋ncuse technique鈥 of the area, in which the same image is shown on both sides of the coin 鈥 in raised relief on one side and impressed intaglio on the other. This created very strong coins, so they could be much thinner than the coins of the Greek mainland. Metapontum was located in a rich agricultural area, and its symbol of an ear of barley refers to that. On this coin, the artist of the obverse used lines made up of tiny dots for the barley and the border around the edge of the coin. The reverse uses simple lines for the barley, while the border is made by little rectangular punches.

Similar to CUAM

Collection: Coin, John Nebel

Bibliography: Noe 136; SNG ANS 218; Rutter, N.K. 2001. Historia Numorum Italy. Page 131 #1481. London: The British Museum Press.