the problems of the first italiote coins / [charles seltman]

8/9/2019 The problems of the first Italiote coins / [Charles Seltman]

1/29

/ ;-=09 )(8*

=-0/ ]

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2/29


3/29

THE PROBLEM OF THE FIRST ITALIOTE COINS

[See

Plates

I-III]

I.

Date, Fabric,

Finance

No

group

of Ancient

Greek

coins not even the

sixth-century

oins

of Athens has aroused so

much

discussion,

o much

controversy,

s

the

early

incuse

coinage

of

Magna

Graecia.

Having

taken

part

in

these discussions

already

I

venture once more

nto

a

dangerous

field,

where,

dodging

round the

holy tripod

of

Croton,

eluding

the

sharp

spikes ofMetapontum,and the horns of theSybaritebull, I am still

confrontedwith

the noble

agalmata

of

Apollo

and Poseidon to

which

I

raise

my

hands

in

supplication.

Those who

have been attracted

by

these

superb

coins have been

either

romanticsor realists

n

their

pproach.

The

romantics,

mong

whom

are to be included

the

Duc

de

Luynes, François

Lenormant,

Ernest

Babelon,

Sir

George

Hill,

and

myself,

have all

thought

that

these

coins

must,

in

some

kind

of

way,

have been linked

to the

Pythagorean movement. I think perhaps they felt that it was

overstraining

robability

to

deny

all connexion

between

the

move-

ment

and the

money.

The

realists,

among

whom

are included

the

late

Dr. B. V.

Head,

Sir

W.

Ridgeway,

Mr.

Sydney

P.

Noe,

Dr.

Milne,

and

Dr.

Sutherland,

share

that historical

approach

which

rightly

uspects

everything

nd

anything

that seems

"too

good

to

be true

.

In

fact,

both sides

feel

that

probabilities

can be

too

attrac-

tive,

and one side

shrinks

from

discarding

them,

solely

because

they

are

attractive,

the

other

from

admitting

them because

they

are so

alluring.

Now

the

strongest

rgument

of the

realists

who

oppose

any

idea

of a

connexion

between

the

incuse

coinage

and

Pythagoreans

s one

of date.

They

maintain,

rightly,

that

Pythagoras

himself

could

hardly

have

arrived

in

Croton

before

about

535

b.c.,

but that

the

city

of

Siris

was

destroyed

by

Metapontum,

Croton,

and

Sybaris

in

alliance

at

some

date

shortly

fter

550

b.c.1

and

that,

since

there are

coins

with

the

name

of Siris

(in

appearance

just

like

the coins

of

Sybaris), thesemusthave been issued about or before550 b.c.

1

However,

n

C.A.H.

iv,

the destruction

f Siris

s

put

as late

as 527 b.c.

vi.

X.

-2

B

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4/29

2

CHARLES SELTMAN

This,

of

course,

would be conclusive

f

t could be shown that

there

were

any

coins of

Siris.

But therewere not

any.

There are

coins of

a

west-coast

place

called

Pyxus

(Greek,

lvÇóes

=

IIvŠovs),

which,

on the

evidence

of the

legend,

may

be

assumed to

have been

founded

or

occupied by

the remnant

of

the

Sirinians

who

survived

the

disaster of

c.

550

b.c.

By

530

b.c.

these

people,

having

attained

stability

and

prosperity,

ssued coins

n

imitation of

current

Sybarite money

and inscribedthem with an

adjective

and a noun in

the

nominative2

Sirinian

Pyxus". They

are

coins

of

Pyxus

-

cer-

tainlynot of Siris. If "Pyxous" is thoughtto be an unusual form

one

may

recall the existence of Lokrian

"

Opous

".

A

simple

nomina-

tive is

in

accordance with

Italiote

practice;

for

example,

?PoToN

at

Croton,

and

TARA*

on the first

oins

of

Tarentum.

Fifty

years

later

exactly

the

same kind of

thing

was

done at

Poseidonia;

for,

after

Croton

destroyed Sybaris

in 510

b.c.,

some

displaced

Sybarites

found a home

in

their own

west-coast

colony

of

Poseidonia.

There,

after

480

b.c.,

they

ssued,

with

the

permission

f

the Poseidoniates, coins inscribed on their two sides Sv . . . Tloa

which

must

surely

mean

"

Sybarite

Poseidonia".3

The

coins of

Pyxus,

then,

are imitations of

coins of

Sybaris

and

may

well have

originated

as late as 530

b.c.

The second

argument

from

date is

based,

sometimeswithout

suffi-

cient

reflection,

n

the

Metapontine

chronology

f

Mr.

S.

P.

Noe,

who

was influenced

by

the

supposed

bulk of

surviving

coins

of

Sybaris

(destroyed

n 510

b.c.)

which

he

thought

covered more than

24

years.

Noe's

scholarly

work

groups

the incuse coins of

Metapontum

into

twelve

classes,

and I have

long

held the view that these call for a

partial

rearrangement.4

One of his most

interestinggroups

is

his

2

Thus

B.

V. Head in

H.N,2,

.

84.

It

is conceivable

hat hese

oins

were

actually

made

n

Sybaris

or

yxus.

3

Loc.

cit.,

.

85.

4

The

Coinage

f

Metapontum

art

;

Num.Notes nd

Monogr

no.

32,

1927.

Probably

etween 34 and 510 b.c. the

Metapontine

intor

mints

ssued

staters

f the

following

lasses

et forth

y

Noe: Class

II

(14

die-pairs),

V

(12),

(27),

I

(10),

VIII

(10),

V

(6)

i.e.

79

die-pairs

n 24

years,

r

a

little

ver

3

die

pairs er

nnum.

Noe,p. 50,

thinks he

urvivinguantity

f

Sybaritecoins s twobigto be fittednto hese ame 24years.Myown mpressions

that

Sybarites

re

ess

plentiful

han

Metapontines. ailing

Corpus,

have

collected rom 7 accessible

nd

published

ollectionsome

details

bout the

coins of five ities ssuedbefore 10

b.c. The

sources re

Carelli,Garucci,

B.M.G.

taly,

Ashmolean

useum,McClean,

e

Luynes,

unter,

Metropolitan



5/29


6/29

4

CHARLES SELTMAN

was to renderthese thinflans mmensely trong".7 (vi) "The coins

produced

in

this fabric

formed stock of

silver

currency

which,

so

far

from

being

available for

export,

was

in

fact

supplemented

by

assiduous

importation

of

silver,

notably

in

the form

of

Corinthian

coin

'used

for

recoiningV'

However,

there is more

to be

said

about

pressure-moulding,

or

this

in

its

turn

has

likeness to

the cire

perdue*

echnique

introduced

to

the Greeks

by

Rhoikos and

Theodoros,9

he

technique

of

hollow-

casting

between

a core and

a

mantle

the

latter

perfectly

djusted

over the former. Monsieur Paul

Naster,

Librarian of the

Royal

Cabinet of

Coins

in

Brussels,

pointed

this

out in

1947.

0

The

impor-

tance of

Naster's

paper

is that he

has

shown

beyond

all doubt

that

the

early

incuse

coins of

Croton,

Metapontum,

and

other

Italiote

cities

were made

from

a

deep

intaglio-carved

obverse-die and

from

a

cameo-carved

reverse-die n

high

relief,

but

not

by any

method

of

hubbing.

Accordingly,

he

cameo

reverse-die s

to be

regarded

as

a kind of

core,

the

intaglio

obverse-die as a

kind of

mantle.

Just as

a thin-walledbronze statue was cast between its core and mantle,

so a thin11

ilver

coin-disk

was

pressed

out

by

hammerblows

between

its

two dies

reverse core

obverse

mantle.

Yet

there

was one

obvious

disadvantage;

for

this

coinage

must

have

been

exceedingly

expensive

to

produce

more

expensive

than

any

other

ancient

money.

Meticulous

adjustment

of

dies,

slow

technical

production,

a

constant

watch

for

small

die-flaws12

hich

would have

broken

these thin

coins;

all

these

factors

must

have

added to the

cost of

minting. Whereas, in many a State making

tougher

coins,

flaws

could be

and

were

ignored,

the

Italiotes

had

7

Sutherland,

oc.

it.,

p.

21

f. The

Tableof

Frequency

n

p.

23

incomplete

though

t

is

for

Croton

nd

Caulonia

n

particular)

s

of

great

value.

Gisela M. A.

Richter,

he

Sculpture

nd

Sculptors

f

the

Greeks

1929,

p.

104.

9

Seltman,

pproach

o

Greek

rt

1948,

.

37.

10

Rev

Belge

de

Numis.,

1947,

pp.

5

ff.

He

did

not

knowof

Sutherland's

article

lanned

orAm.

Num.

Soc.

Mus.

Notes

iii,

of

1948

and

while

uther-

land

had

heard

f

Naster's

aper,

e had

not

been

ble to

see t.

11

Naster,oc.cit., late with hotographsfcasts taken irect romhehollow everses) hich ecreateheformfthereverse ies. Ontheextreme

thinnessee

loc.

cit.,

.

15.

12

Witness

he

anxiety

aused

to a

Metapontine

mint

operative

y

an

insignificant

ut

growing

law n

the

obverse

ie

of

Noe,

op.

cit.,

no.

la

to

Id,

whichwas

carefullyepaired.



7/29

THE

PKOBLEM

OF

THE

FIRST ITALIOTE

COINS 5

to discard or to remake completely heir dies afterbriefuse. There-

fore,

n

a

short

period

of

years

they

would

be

obliged

to

employ

a

greater

number

of

dies than

any

other

coin-minting

Greeks.

The

sheer

expense

was

probably

the main

cause

for the

adoption

after

c.

510

b.c.

of

smallerdies

and the

consequent

thickening

f

coin-flans.

This

superb

coinage

could

not have been

brought

nto

being by

a

committee

f

bankers who

would

not

have understood

he

technique,

nor

by

a

committee of

artists

who would not have

appreciated

economic

necessities.

It could

only

be the

work

of an

exceptional

personality;

an individual

(a)

who from

youth

had learnt and

mastered

the

technique

of

engraving,

chasing,

and

working

in

precious

metals

(b)

who had delicate

and

fine

ersonal

art-sensibility

(c)

who

understood ertain

ngineering

rinciples,

nd was

acquainted

with the

cire-perdue

rocess recently

ntroduced

from

Egypt

into

Samos

;

(d)

who

had a mathematical bent which

turned

his

interest

to

Greek world finance n

his

day,

and who was

fully

alive to the

importance

of

Corinth and

Corinthian

trade

within

that economic

frame.

If

Sutherland be

right

and

I

believe

he is

he

is

presupposing

forthe

creation of this

masterly

oinage

out

of

nothing

anyway,

out

of

nothing

obvious)

the

existence

of a

genius;

a

genius

equal

in

eminence at the

very

east to the eminence

of

Leonardo

da Vinci.

For

the latter half

of

the sixth

century

b.c.

there

is

only

one

name to

fit

this role

Pythagoras.

II. Pythagoras as an Artist

It is a

matter for

some

surprise

that there does

not seem

to exist

a modern

critical

biography

of

Pythagoras,

slight

hough

t would

be.

Books

by

the

hundred,

rticles

by

the

thousand,

may

be found

dealing

with his

thought,

the

thought

of his

followers,

nd

Pythagoreanism

in

general

as

science,

philosophy,mysticism,

r

religion

but

not

a

recent

critical "Life" of the man.13

The best

I have

been

able

to

discover s

in

Latin

by

Mullach,

published

n Paris

in

1867.14

Yet the

ancient

sources are not

too bad.

Primary

s

Herodotus,

who,

born

13

Pauly-Wissowa,

eal-Encyclopädie,

as not

yet

reached

im.

14

r. A.

G.

Mullach n

Frag, ťmíosop

iorum

Jraecorum,

,

lob/,

edition

Didot,

Paris.

J.

Burnet,

arly

Greek

hilosophy,

d.

4,

193Ó,

p.

87

f.,

has

a

slender

utline fhis ifewhich

annot

elp

us

much.



8/29

6 CHARLES

SELTMAN

at

Halicarnassus and

ending

his life at

Thurii,

was

equally

familiar

with Samos

and

Croton.

He,

of

course,

refersto

Pythagoras

and

supplies

an admirable

picture

of his

background

when

talking

about

the

reign

of

Polycrates

of

Samos

between 540

and

522

b.c.

A

secondary

source,

of mixed

value,

is the Life in

the

eighth

book

of

the

Lives

of

the

Philosophers

by

Diogenes

Laertius. To

these two

sources

must be added

tales and

fragments

from other

writers15

relating

to

Pythagoras

and his

father

Mnesarchos.

From

all

this

something

was

compiled

by

Mullach;

but

there

seems a

need

for

some more modernbiography, nd especiallyfor a carefulsifting f

the

different

ales,

so variable in their

reliability,

ncorporated

by

the

voracious

Diogenes

Laertius.

Here

I

can

do

no more than

give

a

summary

f

my

own

conclusions

founded

on much

reading

and considerable

research.

In

the

whole

corpus

of

ancient

writings

oncerning ythagoras

there re

four

kinds

of

tradition

I.

Tradition

based

on

Samos.

This is the

most

reliable.

II. Traditionbased on Croton and Metapontumconcerning is life

and death in

Italy

: also

fairly

eliable.

III. Tradition

coming

from

Italy

concerning

the

Pythagorean

Brotherhoods nd their

rules less

reliable

sometimes

dubious.

IV. General

traditions

oncerning

he

beliefs,

heories,

nd

religious

and

philosophical

views of

himself

nd his

followers.

Some of

these are

very

ate

and often

unreliable.

It is

unfortunatethat in

Diogenes

Laertius'

Life of Pythagoras

these four

separate

traditions are not

always kept

clearly apart

;

but,

if

you

approach

the text with the

four

eparate

strands

n

mind,

it is

usually

fairly imple

to isolate

items

derived from

Traditions I

and

II.

For

one

who is not a

philosopher

and

I

cannot claim

to be

one it

is far more

difficult

o

keep

Tradition III

and Tradition

IV

15

e.g.

Apuleius,

lorida

ii.

15.

3;

and

the various

ources ollected

y

Mullach.

There

s,

of

course,

orphyry's ife

of

Pythagoras

but this s

so

heavily

harged

with

ater

neo-Pythagoreanism,

hich

ses

any appropriateMärchenthat t is best eft ut ofaccount. Much hesamecriticism ust,

unfortunately,

e

applied

o the

Life

by

Iamblicus. Both

these

ate

writers

carry

ome

historical

etails

missing

rom

ther ources

but

the details

re

frustratingly

ard

o

dentify.

ee also

J.

Burnet,

p.

cit.,

n

thevariable

alue

of

these

ources.



9/29

THE

PROBLEM OF

THE FIRST ITALIOTE

COINS

7

apart the one from he other.16Fortunatelyforthe purpose of this

paper,

I

have no

need

to make the

attempt,

for

am

concerned

only

with the

life.

The

background

formed

by

the court and

island

empire

of

Poly-

crates of

Samos is

fairly asy

to

reconstruct,

nd

this has been done

admirably by

P.

N. Ure

in the

Cambridge

Ancient

History.11Many

of the

Aegean

Islands were

under

Samian

control,

nd

in the

capital

itself

art,

poetry,

and

engineering

lourished.

The

principal

artists

working

here were the celators Theodoros

and

Rhoikos,

sons of

Telekles I, and the son ofRhoikos, Telekles II,18 also Mnesarchos19

and,

as we shall

see,

Pythagoras

himself.

The

poets

Ibycus

and

Anacreon

found

a

home at

the

court;

and the celebrated

engineer

Eupalinos,

who

constructed

the

famous

tunnel,

rediscovered

fifty

years ago,

and made the

great

mole

round the

harbour

of

Samos.

Demokedes of

Croton

came from he

west

to become court

physician

to

Poly

crates.

Commercial

relations

with

Corinth

were well

established.

When Polycratesbecame masterofSamos in 540 b.c., Pythagoras

was

probably

in

his

sixties,

and had

been

associated

some

thirty

years previously

with

Pherekydes,

the

Theolog,

son

of

Babys

of

Syros,

a thinker who

taught

the doctrine

of

metempsychosis,

or

more

correctlypalingenesia,

which

Pythagoras

himself

so

eagerly

adopted.

Yet

Pythagoras

continued

to

practise

the

art of

celature

in

which he had been

brought

up by

his

father,

Mnesarchos,

he

gem-

engraver,

s

appears

from

passage

in the

Life

by

Diogenes

Laertius.

Shortly fter540 b.c., Pythagoras,obviouslystillon good termswith

the

despot Polycrates,

acted as

his

emissary

to

Amasis,

Pharaoh

of

Egypt.

The

significant

assages

are

as

follows:

"He made

himself

three silver

goblets,

and

gave

them

away

to

each

of

the

priests

n

Egypt.

. .

.

Accordingly

he went

to

Egypt

at

that

time

when

Poly-

crates

gave

him

a letter

of

introduction

to

Amasis

and

he

learnt

their

i.e.

the

Egyptians')

language."20

From

Egypt

he

returned

o

16

See,

however,

he

brilliant

ccount

y

the

ate

Professor

M. Cornford

inG.A.H. v,pp. 544ff.alsoJ.Burnet,p.cit.17Vol.

v,

pp.

90

ff.,

nd n his

Origin f

Tyranny,

h. ii.

18

Seltman,

pproach

oGreek

rt

p.

37.

19

But Mnesarchos

as

of the

older

generation,

nd

may

have

been

dead

before

40 b.c.

20

Diog.

Laert.,

viii. 1-3.



10/29

8 CHARLES SELTMAN

Samos

-

presumably

after more than

a

year's

absence

and, failing

to

hit it offwith

Polycrates,

eft

Samos

for

Magna

Graecia.

The new

point

which is

now raised

is that

Pythagoras

made

for

himself

he silver

goblets

and

was,

accordingly,

practising

celator.

Commentators,

ater

Greek, Roman,

and

modern,

have too

often

given

an

appearance

of

taking

the

following

ine:

"though

our

hero

was the

son of a

'tradesman',

and

though

Greek

fathers

taught

their sons

their

trade,

perhaps

Mnesarchos

did

not

teach

Pythagoras

Ms trade"

Nowadays

it

will,

think,

be admitted that

Mnesarchos

as a celator ranked in his own day with the othergreat ones, like

Theodoros

and

Rhoikos,

and that

the

professional

alling

of

Pythago-

ras was

one

held in

high

honour.21

With

care and

delight

he

himself

made silver

cups,

and like some

ancient

Keftian of

Crete

over 900

years

before22 took them as

gifts

to

Egypt.

Since

this

neglected

passage

surely upports

he view that

Pythago-

ras

practised

celature

himself,

must recall a

paper

written

many

years ago by Sir William Ridgeway.23In 1896 he pointed out that

"

combining

his

knowledge

of

crystallography,

gained

from

his

father's

trade,

with

that of

Egyptian

geometry,

Pythagoras

con-

ceived the

world

as

built

up

of

a

series

of

material bodies

imitating

geometric

solids".

"

Quartz-crystal

would

give

him

a

perfect

pyra-

mid and

double

pyramid";

iron

pyrites

"is

found

in

cubes massed

together";

"the

dodekahedron

is

found

in

nature in the

common

garnet";

and the

beryl

is a

cylindrical

hexagon. Pythagoras,

Sir

William

concluded,

was a

practical engraver

who could not

help

observing

these

and

many

other

natural

details

in

the

pursuit

of

his

art.

Further,

Pythagoras,

according

to

Aristotle,

declared that

the

sound

of

bronze

being

beaten

was

the

voice of some

deity

shut

up

within t.24

Who

but

a

celator

who

loved his material

would

have

made such

a

remark

Shapes

of

bronze

and silver

crystals

n

the

hands

of a

celator: it

was

Cornfordwho

remarkedthat the

Pytha-

gorean

philosophy,

n

contrast

to

the

Milesian,

was a

philosophy

of

form

as

opposed

to

matter.

21

Seltman,

p.

cit.,

nd

Masterpieces

f

Greek

oinage

pp.

8 if.

C.A.H.

ii,

pp.

275

ff.

Bossert,

ltkreta,

igs.

333-41.

16

Classical

Review,

896,

p.

92

ff.

A.

B.

Cook,

eus

ii,

p.

649

and

references

d

loc.



11/29

THE

PROBLEM OF

THE FIRST IT ALIO

TE COINS

9

And ifPythagoras was closely concerned with celature as an art

this

was

bound to affect

is

policy

and

thought

once he

foundhimself

in

a

position

of

unchallengedauthority

n

Italy.

It

is not

known

why Pythagoras, travelling

west,

should have

chosen

Croton,

rather than

Sybaris,

Tarentum,

Syracuse,

or

Naxos,

forhis new

home. There

is, however,

the fact

that he had

in

Samos

a

friend,

Demokedes of

Croton,

the court

physician,

who

could have

given

him

lettersof

ntroduction. He

sailed round

Peloponnese,

but

put

into the

gulf

and visited

Delphi

first,

proper procedure

for

one

who was to be an oikistes. There is a tradition that while there he

showed

some

interest

n

the

holy

tripod

upon

which the

Pythia

sat,

and

Apollo

himself

might

sit.25

III.

Coinage

in

the

Samian

Empire

So

Pythagoras

arrived

n

Croton

about

535

b.c.

-

say

between 537

and

533

b.c.

-

never to returnto

his home

in

Samos.

When he

got

there

the

city

was

probably

n a

trough

of

depression,having

recently

sustained, at the hands of the WesternLocrians, a seriousmilitary

defeat

on the banks of the river

Sagras

at

Caulonia,

a close

ally

of

Croton.

He came with a

great

reputation

and

his

tremendous

personality

imposed

itself almost

instantly

upon

the

Crotoniates,

to

whom

he

must have

appeared

as a veritable

emissary

of the

high gods.

He

was now

between

70

and

75,

but

full of

energy

nd

evidently

one

of

the

greatest

and most

gifted

men

in

the.

history

of the

world. It

is

not for me to write about his religio-political rganizations, nd his

profound

discoveries

in

the

realms

of

acoustics,

geometry,

and

science.

Many problems

confronted

him but

we,

as

numismatists,

are at the

moment nterested

chiefly

n the

coinage-problem

which

has been so

brilliantly

outlined

by

Sutherland

and Naster in

the

papers

already

cited.

It

has,

perhaps,

not

yet

been

remarked

hat

Pythagoras

came

from

a

country

of

few coins to another

altogether

coinless,

and

yet

per-

ceived that

something

must

be

done

about

it.

All

round

the

Aegean

one

power

after

another

adopted

coinage

the

Kings

of

Lydia,

the

25

A. B.

Cook,

p.

cit.,

.

221,

quoting

orphyry,

dubious

uthority.

ut

thevisit

o

t>elphi

s

probable

n other

rounds.

On

the

ripod

ee footnote

5

below.



12/29

10

CHARLES

SELTMAN

merchant-princes

f

Ionia,

Pheidon of

Argos,Solon,

and later

Peisi-

stratos,

were concernedwith the issues of

coinage

and the

Corin-

thians,

withwhom the

Samians

were

closely

associated

in

trade,

were

prolific

moneyers. Seventh-century

amos

had had

a

coinage

of

a

kind

in

electrum.26But

it is

not at

present possible

to

assign

more

than one issue of tetrobols

o the

island for he

eighteenyears during

which

Polycrates

ruled.27

His

thalassocracy

was not a

rigidorganiza-

tion,

and

within

it,

presumably,

coin-using

states

like

Delos

and

Chios

issued their own

money.

Samos,

it

seems,

used

any

metal,

coined or uncoined, gold, electrum,or silver which came into its

market.

In

Magna

Graecia

far

away

from

ources of

silver

the

situation

was

quite

different.

omehow,

as

Sutherland

has

shown,

a stock of

silver must

be

imported,

and

subsequently

so controlled as to dis-

courage

its

re-exportation.

It

required

a man with

experience

of

Greek

money

markets to

bring

this

about,

and it also

required

a

technician.

We may reflect hat a man who willhave learnt his father's rade

of

gem-engraving,

who was the

contemporary

n

Samos

of

Rhoikos

and

Theodoros,

who

himself

made silver

goblets,

and who was

therefore

ssuredly

a

t

opevrrfs,

aelator,

celator what

you

will

was

precisely

he

man to be

successfulwith

the technical side of

this

coinage.

I

know

that it is a

daring thing

to claim

this

coinage

a

sponta-

neous invention as

his

personal

creation. But

I

am

bound

to state

that

I

have

been driven

to this

view.

And,

since

it was the

sponta-

26

E.

Babelon,

Traite

I,

i,

pp.

201

ff. nd Pl. IX.

27

Viz. B.M.C. Ionia

p.

350. 10.

The coins

ssigned

y

Babelon,

p.

cit.,

pp.

281

ff.,

o the

reign

f

Polycrates

re

surely

ater.

As there

were

ew ocal

coinshe

was

in

some

difficulty

hen

Spartan

force

esieging

amos

was

ready

o be

bought

ff.

He took

herisk f

minting

ome

pecial

oins f

ead,

coating

hem

with

gold,

nd

handing

hem

over

see

Hdt. iii.

56).

As the

besiegers

ere

partans,

hetrick

aturally

orked.Two

ofthese ead

coins,

the

gilt

coating one,

may

survive: stater

with

n

eagle

tearing

serpent

(8*37

grammes,

he

right

weight

or

Samos,

the

right

abric nd

reverse

punches).

t

is in

Boston;

K.

Regling,

atal. Warren

oll.,

no. 1769. The

second,

f

dentical

abric,

as a lion

ooking

ack

(6-56grammes:nParis,poorpreservation),bogusMilesian lazon Pl. . 1,2]. Herodotus adfifth-

century

cepticism

bout

his

tory,

ut sixth

century

partans

were

ullible.

See

also

Babelon,

oc.

cit.,

p.

219

ff.

Mr.

Jean

Babelon

nforms e

that

he

lead

piece

n

Paris s

now n a

very

ad

state f

preservation

ndhefearstwill

not ast

very

ong.



13/29

THE

PROBLEM OF

THE FIRST ITALIOTE COINS

11

neous

invention of a

genius, t will be found

that

in

each

of the six

principal

groups28

Croton,Caulonia,

Metapontum,29ybaris,

Taras,30

Poseidonia

the

finest

oins are in

every

nstance the

earliest,

because

they

were

so difficult

o

make,

and meticulous

care

had

to be

exer-

cised

in

the

making

of

dies,

in

their

adjustment,

and

in

coining.

"

A

spontaneous

invention . . evolved

without

any

evolutionary

development:"31

well,

almost;

but

perhaps

not

quite.

Within

the

historical

framework

which

I am

trying

to construct there

was a

coinage

of a

city,

n

the orbit of the

Samian

empire,

which

must

have

been known to

Pythagoras,

and which technicallyhas more claim

than

any

other to

stand in loco

parentis

to

the

spread

coins of

Magna

Graecia.

The

island of

Calymna

lies

fifty

miles to the

south

of

Samos

;

and

there are

some

exceedingly

rare

sixth-century

oins

[Pl.

II.

2]

which

probably

belong

to this

State.

On

the

obverse

s a bearded

head,

Ares

or

a

local

hero,

wearing

a crested

Corinthian

helmet,

eye large

and

full. The

reverse

shows a

seven-stringed

yre,

made

of tortoise-shell

and curved horns,within a neat sunk incuse cut to take the lyre's

shape.32

The standard is

peculiar,

the

two

specimens

n

the

British

Museum33

weighing

10*51 nd

10*11

grammes

Pl.

I.

3,

4].

Dr.

Head

remarked34

hat the

coins are

on the

Lydian

silver

standard of

Croesus,

and

this

pretty

well

fixes

their

issue

between

c.

560

and

546

b.c.

These coins were

succeeded,

after

very

short

nterval,

by

a

second

issue,35

which differed

rom he

first

n two

points

of detail.

On

the

28

Apart

rom hese ix

there re

the

mitative

oins

f Sirinian

yxus

see

p.

2

above),

unique roblem

iece

with

boar)

which

emains

mystery,

nd

a

Rhegian

oinwhich s

not

quite

within

he

framework

f

the

ix.

29

am

assuming

hatNoe's

Class

II is

the

earliest

see

p.

2,

n.

4 and

p.

3

above.

30

The first

oinswith

Apollo

kneeling,

ot

the

Dolphin-rider

oins

which

followed.

31

S.

P.

Noe,

op.

cit.,

.

14.

32

The

celebrated

ing

of

Polycrates

made

by

JLheodoros

as

reputed

o

have

been

ngraved

ith

lyre.

Overbeck,

ie

antiken

chriftquellen,

o.

310.

33

B.M.C. Caria,p. 188,1,2.34Loc.cit.,

.

lxxxvi. The lyreon thereverses possibly canting-type:

xéXvfiva

Babrius

115,

5)

=

x€^vri

-

lyre*

35

Represented

y

two

coins:

n

Boston,

K.

Regling,

atal.

Warren

u.,

no.

1179;

and

in the Jameson

ollection,

atal

no.

1844,

rom

he

Taranto

Hoard.



14/29

12

CHARLES SELTMAN

bowl

of

the

helmet,

bove the raised

ridge,

s

a

large

letter

A.36

The

weight

s no

longer

that of

the

Lydian

silver

standard,

but

Samian-

Euboic,

forthe

coins

weigh

8-49 and

8*68

grammes

Pl.

I.

5,

6].

This

standard

had been

employed

n Samos

for electrum coins minted n

the seventh

century

b.c.,

and

may,

since the coin

is

certainly

East

Greek,

be

regardeddefinitely

s a

Samian standard.

A

cogent

reason

for

regarding

these coins with the

helmeted head

and

the seven-

stringed

lyre

as

being

struck within the

region

of

south-western

Asia

Minor,

is

the fact

that their

die-positions

are

in

every

case

regular jf . And l°ng ag°> Sir GeorgeMacdonald pointed out that

this

part

of

the

world was "the

original

home

of the mechanical

device

to

whose existence

precision

of

adjustment

testifies.

In the

coinages

of

places

like

Cnidus,

Samos,

Calymna,

and

Carpathos,

irregularity

s

virtually

unknown. There the

dies

seem to have been

fixed from he

seventh or

sixth

centuries

b.c.

onwards."37

In

any

event,

Pythagoras,

when

living

n

Samos,

must have seen

such

coins;

and

for

Asia

Minor

they

are

very

queer

coins

indeed.

This pop-eyed,big-nosedgod (or hero) is elder brother o a Peisistra-

tid

Athene of

about 540

to

530

b.c.

[Pl.

II.

I],38

and

I

have

recently

given

reasons

for

my

belief

hat

the

firstAthenian

tetradrachms

were

struck

in

566

b.c.39

They

were,

in

any

case,

the first

"

two-type"

coins

in

the

world.

Ravel

puts

the

first Corinthian

"two-type"

coins

shortly

afterwards,

bout

549

b.c.40

Croesus,

whose new

bi-

metallismtook

a

little

while

to

develop,

had his silver

n

circulation

by

about

560

b.c. : it

ceased with

his

downfall

n

546

b.c.

Into

this

framework

we

can

now fit

he "Calymna" coins and they

36

do not for

moment

elieve

hat

the

A

is

the middle

etter

f

KAA,

as

Greenwellnd

Regling

hought,

or

he

A

is far

oo

conspicuous

nd

must

label he

wearer f

he

helmet.

But

who

s

he ?

Ares,

Ankaios,

chilles,

jax

?

For the

tyle

ompare

rmed

heroes

y

the

Amasis

ainter

n

Athens,

.

550

to 535

b.c.

37

Corolla

umis

1906,

.

180.

Mr.E.

S.

G. Robinson

oints

utto

me

that

this

s not

true

or

he

arliest

ssues

f

Cnidus

where he

dies

re on

the

whole

irregular.

38

n

the

Hague:

Seltman,

thens

Hist. &

Coinage

no.

250,

Pl.

XI,

A165,

P202. In

that

work

setthe

oin

oo

ate

because

had

only

poor

ast of t.

Nowthat

havehad

an

opportunityf eeinghe oin tself ndhavereceivedan excellent irect hotographromMr.H. Enno vanGelder, prefer date

about

540 to

530

b.c.

for

t.

39

Num.

Chron.

946,

p.

97

f.

O.

Ravel,

Les

Poulainsde

Corinthe,936,

.

57.

Some

cholars

hink

his

date

rather

oo

early.



15/29

THE

PROBLEM OF THE

FIRST ITALIOTE COINS

13

drop ntoplace neatly somewhat ater than the earliest

"

two-type"

coins

of Athens and

having

two

issues one of

Lydian

weight

before

the

disappearance

of the

Croesean

silver-standard,

he other

Samian

in

weight.

What

is, however,

remarkable s the fact that

they

are

by

far the

earliest

East

Greek

"

two-type"

coins,

that

they

are

thin,

that

they

are from fixed

dies,

and

that

they

have a reverse

which is both

spacious

and aftera

fashion

incuse.

Accordingly,

t

may

be

that

when

Pythagoras

travelled

west,

and when

he became the

creatoror

inventor of the Italiote

coinage,

he had the

memory

of one

very

peculiar

Eastern

coinage

to

influence

his ideas.

IV. Croton

and

the

Rest

In each of

the six

principal groups

of Italiote

coins the finest

re,

as

already

stated,

the

earliest.

Yet,

within the small

group

of

the

"earliest

finest" here

s one lot which for

pure

design

and technical

perfection

surpasses

all the others the

widespread

first

coins of

Croton[PL III. 1, 2].41

On

these dies

the artist s

telling

you

about his own art

the celator

is

illustrating

celature.

In

his

youth

he too had

made

tripods

of

bronze

exactly

like the

great

tripod

of

Croton,

and he knew

with

the

knowledge

of an

expert

how

they

were

put

together.

The

principle

described

by

Sutherland42

hat

4

'thin sheets of

metal,

when

traversed

by pressure-moulded

idges

which are

correspondingly

n-

dented

on

the

under-surface,

re

remarkablyproof

against

bending

or buckling" this principle,whichgave strength o the thin coin-

disks,

was an

engineering

rinciple already applied

to

the

long

legs

of bronze

tripods.

They

have the fine tructure f

angle-girders

nd

the

same

kind of

strength.43

41

B.M.C.

Italy

p.

342.

1,

snakes n

the

cauldron;

e

Luynes

Catal.

Bib.

Nat.,

Paris),

PI.

25.

702,

nakes

mong

hefeet.

42

See

footnote

above.

43

Later

tripods ppear

to have

required

he reinforcement

í

horizontal

rings;

e.g.

de

Luynes

Catal.,Croton,

l. 26.

713, 715-24;

Syracuse,

l. 46.

1265-8; and at Abdera,Seltman,Greek oins,PI. 28. 12; Thebes, bid.,Pl. 53.2

Philippi,

bid., l. 46.6,7. From his nemust ssume hatpressure-

moulding

nd

casting

f he

egs

nd feet

ad been bandoned

n

favour f n

inferior

echnique.

The same

phenomenon

s seen

n

paintings

f

tripods

n

vases:

e.g.

on the

François

ase

(Furtwängler

eichhold,

l.

1),

tripods

s on

the

coin;

on

a

vase

by

the Berlin

Painter,

.

490

b.c.

(J.

D.

Beazley,

Der



16/29

14

CHARLES SELTMAN

The two pairs ofdies illustratedon Plate III were apparentlythe

first,

r

among

the

very

first,

made for

Croton,

nd

probably

antedate

all other

coins of

Magna

Graecia.44

They

seem also to differ

n

one

important

detail

from

the

rest;

for the three

letters

?Po

upon

them have

been

hammered nto the die

with

punches

of the

shapes

O, I, >,

exactly

ike

the letters

hammered nto the side

of the famous

gold

Cypselid

bowl

in

Boston

45

The letters on coins of

Caulonia,

Metapontum,

nd

other ities ook as

though hey

had been

engraved,

rather

than

punched

with little

"

shapes"

such as

belonged

to

the

normal outfitof a celator.

I

do

not feel sure which came

next,

but think t was eitherdies for

Caulonia

or for

Metapontum

46

nor

am

I

suggesting

hat

Pythagoras

himselfmade these. Yet the

possibility

must not be

excluded

since

he

did

not have to

go

to those cities

n

order to make them

dies.

It

is

more

probable

that he had efficient

pprentices

even within

his

own

family.

When

you imagine

a

picture

of

Pythagoras

migrating

from amos

to

Croton,

do

not visualize the

lone

traveller,

he

sad

old

man, leaning over the stern of some sixth-century alley until the

cliffs

f

Samos

drop

below the

horizon.

The

truth, think,

can

be

better

magined

n

the

picture

of a

small

clan

migration

two,

three,

or more

ships,

the

patriarch

n

command, wife,

sons,

daughters-in-

law,

daughters, grand-children,

ervants, crew,

domestic

animals,

and chattels.

Long

afterthis

Apollonius

the

Arithmetician

tated47

that when

Pythagoras

had discoveredthat the

square

of

the

hypote-

nuse of

a

right-angled riangle

s

equal

to the

squares

of

the

sides

containing

the

right angle,

he

sacrificed hundred

oxen.

Here is

hyperbole

But

Apollonius

thought

of

Pythagoras

as

within

the

income-group

f those who

could afford

xtravagant

religious

obser-

vances.

Such

an

impact

as all

this on

Croton,

and

presently

on

the

other

cities,

did

produce

results when

you

remember

that

the

old

Berliner

aler,

Pl.

25),

reinforcing

orizontal

ings.

The

ong

nd

important

article

n

tripods

y

Miss

Silvia

Benton,

.S.A.

xxxv,

pp.

74

ff.,

s

concerned

almost

ntirely

ith

ripods

madebefore 00

b.c.

44

Except,

of

course,

he

"Phocaean"

coins,

.

540

b.c.,

of

purely

Asiatic

Ionian

style

minted n

Velia,

cf.

Seltman,

reek oins

pp.

79 f.

45Seltman, pproachoGreek rt,PI. 206; and C.A.H. Plates, , p. 274.

In

Sylloge

ummorum,

.

C.

Lockett

oll.,

os.

596, 97,

98,

heuse of

ittle

"shapes"

for

making

etters n the

dies s

very

lear.

46

Noe's

Class

II

;

not

his Class : see

footnote above.

47

Diog.

Laert.

viii.

11.



17/29

THE

PROBLEM OF

THE

FIRST ITALIOTE

COINS

15

man

himself

was an

artist,

an

economist,

a

musician,

a mathemati-

cian,

a

linguist,

a man of

science,

a

statesman,

and

a

profound

thinker. It is no wonder that he

and his were

quickly

able to

found

the celebrated

Pythagorean

Brotherhoods

n a number of

Italiote

cities.

He

could win the affections f

his followers

o an

unusual

degree by teaching

them a

"way

of ife".48

An

attempt

to establish a

possible sequence

forthe initial ssues

of

incuse coins in these

cities

may

be

made.

If

Croton was

the

first,

about

535

to 534

b.c.,

Metapontum

and

Caulonia

could be

second

and third,bearing in mind for the latter that the type is not an

engraver's

dea of

Apollo,

but his

memory picture

of

an

actual

cult-

statue

of

the

god.

Just before

30

b.c.,

perhaps,

came the first oins

of

Sybaris,

closely

followed

by

those of

Pyxus,49

nd soon after hat the

so-called

"unofficial mitations" of

Metapontines.50

The

Sybarite

colony

of Poseidonia

may

have started

coining

near

520

b.c.,

and

on

these

again

the

picture

s

that of a

cult-statue.

By

510

b.c.,

in

which

year

Sybaris

was

destroyed,

flans

tended

to become a little

smaller,

and Crotonbroughtout a set of "victory" coinsrecording riumphs

over

Sybaris,

Pandosia,

and Temesa. It

was,

apparently, precisely

at this

time

that four

ther tates became coin-issuers

Tarentum,

he

enigmatic

Pal.

. .

.

,

Rhegium,51

nd Zankle.

The first arentine

s

the

coin with

the

kneeling

Apollo, lyre

in

hand,

for

type

and he

may

profitably

e

compared

with

a

kneeling

Herakles

engraved

on

a sard

scarab,52

dated,

on other

grounds,

to

about

510

b.c.

Last of

all,

shortly

before

500

b.c.,

came

the

coins of

Sybarite

Laos

with

their

clumsilydesignedman-headed

bull. After

this a

general shrinking

and

thickening

f flans

took

place

in

all the Italiote

cities.53

48

J.

Burnet,

arly

Greek

hilosophy,

930,

.

85.

49

See

pp.

2-3 above.

60

See

p.

3 above

ratherssues

rom

separate

mint.

51

For

Rhegium

ee

E.

S. G.

Robinson

n

J.H.S,

66,

1946,

.

18.

Pal

....

Mol

...

perhaps

o

longer

n

enigma,

i)

Recent xcavations

graves

with

imported

ttic nd

onian

pottery

.

530-20

.c.)

at

Palinurus,

est f

Pyxus,

are evidence

or town

ig nough

ohave

minted hePal

.... Mol ... coins

A.J.

A.

Iii,

1948,

.

510.

(ii)

Was

Palinurus,

elmsman

fAeneas nd

drowned

off he

Palinurian

ape,

a

kind

of

doublet

f Palaimon

Melicertes)

The

latter,withhismother,ell nto he ea from heMolurianock earMegara.

Was there

erhaps

Molurian

ock t Palinurus

own Both

dead

heroes

were

washed

p

and became

he

objects

f

underground

ult.

52

Seltman,

pproach

o Greek

rt PI. 51a.

53

t seems

mportant

o

look

t Plateswhere

hese oins

ppear

n

quanti-



18/29

16

CHARLES

SELTMAN

Hitherto

some

of us

have felt it

probable

that some connexion

may

have existed

between

the

theological-philosophical

rganization

of

the

Pythagorean

communities

nd

the

queer

coins current n the

hey-day

of the

brotherhoods

nd

in

several

of their controlledcities.

Types,

borders,

nd

a

peculiar

incuse fabric

have

seemed to contain

possible

allusions.

We,

the

romantics

to whom

I

referred

t the

beginning

of this

paper,

always

felt

there could

be some link. The

coins

are

so

very

mathematical

even

arithmetical

in form

and,

as

Burnet

has

remarked,54

we sometimes

feel

tempted

to

say

that

Pythagorashad reallyhitupon the secretof the worldwhen he said,

'things

are

numbers'".

At

any

rate,

stimulated

by

Naster's

and

Sutherland's

views about

the

technique

and the economics

of

this

coinage,

I

have decided to

put

forth

he

startling

view

that the

very

first

f these

superb

coins

-

the

early

Crotoniates55

may

have been

the

personal

creation

of

the

great

celator-philosopher

imself,

ven

though

this

may

evoke

that

most

opprobrious

of all words which

can be aimed

at a scholar

"ingenious".

The death

of

Pythagoras

at

Metapontum

is

usually placed

about

509 b.c.

The

sage,

who had seemed

god-given

o the

people

of

Croton

in

535,

had

left their

city

after

exercisingpower

for

twenty

years.56

ties

n order

o

obtain

conspectus

f

types

nd

sequences.

One

ofthe

most

useful

ources

s

E.

Babelon,

raité

Pis. 65-71 also

Jean

Babelon,

e

Luynes

Catal.,

Pis.

19, 20, 25, 26;

also

the relevant

lates in

Sylloge

Nummorum,

Lloyd

Collection,

ockett

Collection,

c.

54

Op.

cit.,

.

112,

note 1.

65Symbolicallyhe ripods,for ythagoras, ostmportant,or ts ssocia-

tion

s with

Apollo,

Delos,

Delphi,

elature,

umbers,

ven musical

ound

all that

mattered

most o him. Also

note hat

Andron f

Ephesus

4th

ent.

b.c.)

wrote

book called

Tpínovs

bout a

tripod

warded

o

and

held

for

time

y

theSeven

ages

n rotation.

haïes,

irst

older,

assed

t to

another,

and

t

went

herounds

ill t

came

back to Thaïes

who hen

deposited

t

with

Apollo

t

Delphi.

Plausibilitiesnliven he

tory,

ut the ext f

Diog.

Laert.

(i.

7

ff.)

s

befuddled ith wo

other tories bout

phiale

nd

a

goblet.

One

of

the

Seven

Sages

in one list was

Pherekydes,

he teacher f

Pythagoras.

I

suspect

hat

'Tripod-holding"

as

a kindof hall-mark

f

sixth-century

sage. Pythagoras

as too

young

o have held t

in

the

original

seven-rota

tion"

buthe

or

his

disciples

or

im)

musthave aid claim o

4

'sage

status".

Is this furthereason or heCrotoniateripod assumingt to be his?

66

Diog.

Laert.viii.

25,

at the end of the

Life,

mentions

ome othermen

named

Pythagoras,mong

hem

ls

fièv

poTcovíarrjs,vpawLKÒsvdpcjTTos,

hom

I

suspect

o

be still he

great ythagoras.

n

Pythagoras

I

see theexcursus

at

theend

ofthis

paper.



19/29

THE

PROBLEM OF

THE FIRST ITALIOTE COINS

17

Are we to think that one who must have combined thegifts nd the

energy

of

Leonardo da

Vinci,

Mr.

Gladstone,

and

General

Booth,

was

getting

little tiresome t

the

age

of 93

?

* * *

Finally,

one

may

summarize the conclusions of

certain numisma-

tists about the coins

themselves,

and

then the

literary

vidence for

the work of

Pythagoras

as

a

celator.

(a)

Noe :

"A

spontaneous

invention

. . .

evolved without

any

evolutionary development. This is nearly true, though I

have observed a

forerunner f

c.

548

b.c.

in the

coinage

of

"Calymna"

which

ay

withinthe

thalassocracy

of

Samos.

(b)

Sutherland:

"bold

and

arresting

fabric";

"

effects f unusual

beauty";

"

special

fabric

peculiar

to

South

Italy";

excep-

tionally

careful and difficult

roduction;

"

pressure-moulded

ridges" giving

mmense

strength;

these

coins,

unfamiliar

lse-

where,

were

specially designed

to

discourage

their

export.

In

otherwordstheywere the creationofa technicaland financial

genius.

(c)

Naster:

a

marked

kinship

with

cire-perdue

echnique,

since

the

reverse-die

n

cameo

equals

the core of a hollow-cast

bronze,

while the

intaglio

obverse-die

equals

the mantle of a

hollow-

cast

bronze.

But this

seems to have been

introduced

by

Rhoikos

and

Theodoros,

contemporaries

of

Pythagoras

in

Samos.

Naster, therefore,

maintains that the coins are

the

work of a Samian

-

a

"

toreuticienmigré who accompanied

Pythagoras

in

535 b.c.

-

and he

calls

him

a

"

praticien

de

génie".57

And

now

the

literary

evidence for

the work of

Pythagoras

as a

celator

(i)

He was

son

of

Mnesarchos,

a

ring-

and

gem-engraver.

(ii)

He

himself

made

three silver

cups

to

take

to

Egypt.

(iii)

Combining

his

trade-knowledge

f

crystals

with

Egyptian

geo-

metry,he conceiveda world built ofsolids.

67

But s

this

not

ike

he xaminee

howrote

"

It has been hown hat

he

Homeric

pics

were

not written

y

Homer,

ut

by

another

man of

the

same

name"

?

VI.

X.

-2

C



20/29

18

CHARLES SELTMAN

(iv)

To this one

may

add

a

fourth onsideration

oundedon a

kind

of

epitaph

written about

Pythagoras by

a

philosopher,

an

ex-Pythagorean,

of the

followinggeneration,Empedocles

of

Akragas

58

And therewas

among

them

man of rare

knowledge

who

had

won

the

utmost

wealth of

understanding,

nd was

master

of all

manner f

killed

work

"

der

mannigfacher

ünste

mächtig

war

as

Diels

translates)

59

orwhensoever

e strainedwith

ll

his

wits

he

easily

saw

everything

f

all

the

things

hat

are,

n

ten,

ven

n

twenty

ifetimes

f men.

Here is a concise

appreciation

by

an

author,

nearer

to

him

n

time

even than

Herodotus,

who

refers o his

wealth of

ideas,

his

skill in

fine

art,

and the vastness

of

his

knowledge.

It seems a little

difficult o

argue

against

the

contention

that

Pythagoras

was a

practical

artist.

Charles

Seltman

Some of my friendshave helped with apposite suggestionsand

criticisms

especially Jacqueline

Chittenden,

A.

B.

Cook,

and

E.

S.

G.

Robinson.

I

wish to

thank

Mr.

Robinson,

Mr.

Jean

Babelon,

and

Miss Edith

Marshall

for

sending

casts,

and

John

Seltman

for

some

statisticalwork on

my

behalf.

This

article was

read as a

paper

to

the

Oxford

Philological

Society

in

June

1949.

A

date chart for

the life of

Pythagoras

may

be

helpful.

It

begins

with

the

probable

date

of his

association

with

Pherekydes.

Nothing

earlier s known save the date ofhis birth n 608 b.c. Bürchner, n

Pauly

Wissowa,

R.E .

n.

i.

2214,

suggests

594

b.c. as an

alternative

date

for

his

birth,

but

with a

query.

58

quote

the

besttext

H.

Diels,

Die

Fragmente

er

V

rsokratiker

ed.

3,

vol.

i

(1912),

p.

272;

Empedocles,

rag.

129:

r¡V

4TL€V

€LVOLGLV

LVTjp

T€pLO)Oia

l8u>S

OS

t) JLT¡KLarOV

Tpa7T¿8(X)V

KTTjGCLTO

tXoVTOV

TTCLVTOLOiV€

láXiOTCL

0ÜJV

7Tl7]paVOS

pyCJV

¿7T7T¿T€

àp

ráorjMJLV

peranorpairfàeaaLV,

peť

o

ye

còv

vtcjüv

ávrojv

evooeoKev

kclotov

Kai e8¿k vOpcotcdvai clkooivicóveooiv.

59

J.

Burnet,

oc.

cit.,

p.

224,

translatesess

accurately.

oœv

pyœv

n

an

early

ifth-century

ontext

must

mean

of

skilled

works",

.g.

ike

celator's

works. on

of

Chios

c.

450

b.c.),

an

admirer

f

Pythagoras,

choed

he

phrase

in

an

elegiac

ragmentEleg.

.

15.



21/29

THE

PROBLEM

OF

THE

FIRST ITALIOTE

COINS

19

All the dates in this chart are approximate.

B.C.

570.

Pherekydes

f

Syros

lor.

Pythagoras,

ged

c.

38

(or

24),

his

pupil.

566. Peisistratos.

irst

two-type"

oins.

564. Croesus

ucceeded

Alyattes, ing

f

Lydia.

560.

Croesean

ilver tandard ntroduced.

558.

Pythagoras

0

(or 36)

years

ld.

550.

Three

taliote

cities

estroyed

iris.

549.

Corinth

egan "two-type"

oins.

548.

"Calymna"

first

two-type"

oins

n

East;

Lydianweight,

Theodorosworked orCroesus.

546. End of

LydianEmpire.

544.

"Calymna"

econd

ssue;

Samian-Euboic

weight.

540.

Polycrates yrant

f

Samos.

Phocean ilver oins

n

Velia.

538.

Pythagoras

ent

o

Amasis

n

Egypt.

536.

Pythagoras

eturned rom

gypt.

535.

Pythagoras,ged

c. 73

(or 59),

eft

amos

for

Croton.

Croton

first

oins.

Metapontum,

aulonia

first

oins.

Sybaris first oins.

530. Sirinian

yxus

first oins.

Other

Metapontine

oin

groups.

525.

Spartans

ought

ff

with

gilt-lead

oins.

522.

Death of

Polycrates.

520. Poseidonia

first oins,

518.

Pythagoras

ged

90

(or 76).

515.

Pythagoras

erhaps

moved o

Metapontum.

510.

Sybaris

estroyed.

Tarentum,

al.,

Rhegium,

ankle coins.

509.

Pythagoras,

ged

99

(or 85),

died at

Metapontum.

EXCURSUS

ON

PYTHAGORAS

II

For the

sake

of

symmetry

t is worth

considering

Pythagoras

II,

commonly

alled

Pythagoras

of

Rhegium,

who,

as Mr. G.

K. Jenkins

reminds

me,

may

have

been

related to the

great Pythagoras

I.

A

similar

view

was

long

ago

mooted

by

H.

Brunn

(Geschichte

er

griech.

Künstler

i,

p.

116).

Mnesarchos

was

a

gem-

and

ring-engraver

his

son,

Pythagoras

I the

Great,

a

gem-,

silver-,

nd

bronze-worker he

had a son named Mnesarchos I who should have called a son ofhis

Pythagoras.

The

family

profession

was

ropevriK-q

celature.

Pythago-

ras

II,

one of

the

most

famous Greek

artists,

was a celator.

He worked

only

n bronze

no

marble statue

of his

has been recorded

he was

an



22/29

20

CHARLES

SELTMAN

âvSpiavTOTTOLÓs,

ot

a Xidovpyós. Pythagoras

II

is almost

always

described as

"of

Rhegium",

but once

on a

statue

base

discovered at

Olympia

he set

Saynos

afterhis name

(Olympia

v,

Inschr.

144).

For

this reason

modern riticshave

suggested

hat

he could

have

migrated

to

Rhegium

n

the

company

of

other

Samians

alleged

to

have arrived

there in

493 b.c. This

supposition, anyhow,

raised

a

difficulty

for

another

tradition

Pausanias,

vi.

4.

4)

maintained that

Pythagoras

I

was

taught

by

Klearchos of

Rhegium,

and

this

same

Klearchos

was

one

of the

numerous

pupils

of

Dipoinos

and

Skyllis

(Paus.

iii.

17.

6)

whowereactive

mainly

n Peloponnesusc. 550 b.c. Accordingly, he

floruit f

Klearchos

should be

c.

525

b.c.

Now,

if

Pythagoras

II

had

only

arrived

in

Rhegium

in

493

b.c. and had

instantly

become

apprenticed

this

would have

occurred

very

late in

the

life of

Klear-

chos.

However,

we

may

now abandon

the

migration

from

Samos

theory

ltogether,

or

Mr. Robinson

has

proved

conclusively

hat

the

Samians

never

went

to

Rhegium

at all

(see

J.H.8.

lxvi,

1946,

pp.

13

ff.).

They

went to

Zankle.

Anaxilas

of

Rhegium

turnedthem

out of

Zankle and took it over himself bout 489 b.c.

If

we

were

to

assume

that

Pythagoras

II

was born

about 525

b.c.

and in

Croton

then,

after

the

death in 509

b.c. of

his

grandfather,

Pythagoras

,

he,

at the

age

of

about

16

might

have

gone

to

Rhegium

and

been

apprenticed

to

Klearchos.

On

this

assumption

Pythagoras

II

would

have

been

over 35

when he

made a

bronze

statue

of

Astylos

of Croton n

488b.c.

(Paus.

vi. 13.

1),

over

50whenhe

made in

472b.

c.a

portrait

tatue

of

Euthymos

of

Italiote

Locri

(Paus.

vi.

6.

4-6),

over

60

when

he

made

figures

f

Leontiskos

of

Messina and ofMnaseas of

Cyrene

Paus.

vi.

4.

3,

and

vi.

13.

7).

His

last

work,

a

chariot-group

for

Kratisthenes

of

Cyrene

dated to 448

b.c.

would

have

been

achieved in

his

seventies.

That

he

signed

Sábios

on

the

base

of

the

portrait

statue

of

Euthymos

in 472

b.c.

would

be

evidence

of

his

pride

in

his

father's

and

grandfather's

and

of

origin.

And

indeed,

Pythagoras

I,

who

was a

celator,

had

good

reason

to

be

proud

of

the

Samian

art

tradition

of

his

own

family

nd

of

others

ike

Theodoros,

Rhoikos,

and

Telekles.

Two criticisms fthe styleofPythagorasII can be tracedback to

Xenocrates,

a

bronze

sculptor

and

writer

of

the

Lysippean

School;

they

have

therefore

ome

value.

Realism

combined

with

rhythm

and

proportion

were

attributed

to

him.

When

an

athlete

gained



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THE

PROBLEM OF

THE

FIRST ITALIOTE COINS

21

threevictories

at

Olympia

it

was the custom

to

set

up

a

portrait

statue

of

him,

but

Pliny

(N.H.

34.

16)

does not

state

how

early

this

custom

began.

Pythagoras

I

made

in

472

b.c.

a statue of

Euthymos

after

his third

victory,

possibly,

therefore,

kind

of

portrait

statue

but

we cannot

know how

realistic,

though

realism was

ascribed

to

Pythagoras

II.

If

he

had

this

gift

t

is conceivable that he

could

have made

from

memory

quasi-realistic

portrait

f his

grandfather,

Pythagoras

I. Such

a

portrait

eems to have been known as

early

as

c.

440

b.c.,

for it was

copied

by

an

Abderite

die-engraver

for the

reverseof a tetradrachmssuedbya magistratenamed "Pythagorës"

(Seltman,

Greek

Coins

pp.

143 f. and PI. 28.

11),

and this in a

city

where

the

memory

of

Pythagoras

I

was held

in

reverence.

Yet

we

cannot

know

whether

this

"

portrait" gives anything

ike a

faithful

record

of his features.

(For

ancient

texts

on

Pythagoras

II

see

J.

Overbeck,

Antilce

Schriftquellen,

os.

490-507

;

H. Stuart

Jones,

Select

Passages

Greek

Sculpt

,

London

1895,

nos.

72-7: modem

discussions,

H.

Lechat,

Pythagoras eRhégion,Lyon 1905 A. W. Lawrence,Classical Sculp-

ture

1929,

pp.

164

f. G.

M.

A.

Richter,

Sculpture

nd

Sculptorsof

the

Greeks

1929,

pp.

151

f.)

O.S.



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Ill

the problems of the first italiote coins / [charles seltman]

Documents