Obverse: Head of the Nymph Terina Facing Right,
Surrounded by Legend "TERINAION"
Reverse: The Goddess Nike Seated upon a
Cippus, Resting Right Hand on a Caduceus
Bruttium is an ancient region of southern Italy,
roughly corresponding to modern Calabria, the
“toe” of the Italian peninsula. Bruttium faced
Sicily across the Strait of Messina. Inhabited in
the interior by the Brutii (whose chief town was
Cosenza) and by the Lucani, it was settled in the
8th century B.C. along the coast by Greek
colonists. Terina was a colony in Brutiium
founded by Kroton in the late seventh or sixth
century. The site of the ancient city is unknown
and little is known of its history, but like other
Greek colonies in Italy and Sicily, it had coinage
of high quality. Its coinage began c. 460 B.C.,
but it did not issue large numbers of coins until
the second half of the fifth century, when this
coin was struck. The local nymph Terina,
guardian of the city’s water source, appears on
the obverse of all the city's coins. Her image
varies over time, often apparently influenced by
the depictions of the nymph Arethusa on the
coins of nearby Syracuse, with emphasis on the
elaborate hairstyle, headband, and jewelry. The
winged female on the reverse is Nike. She wears
a chiton and himation and holds one of her
typical attributes: a kerykeion or herald's staff
associated with peace and prosperity.
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or your purse? What eras and lands have
the coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of
who touched the coin before us, or where the
coin will venture to after us. More than money,
coins are a symbol of the state that struck them,
of a specific time and place, whether currency in
the age we live or an artifact of a long forgotten
empire. This stunning hand-struck coin reveals
an expertise of craftsmanship and intricate
sculptural detail that is often lacking in
contemporary machine-made currencies. This
coin is more than an artifact; it is a memorial an
ancient city passed down from the hands of one
generation to another, from one civilization to
another.
- (C.2062)
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