Calabria, Tarentum
Stater circa 333-331/0, AV 8.56 g. TAPA Diademed and veiled female head (Hera) r.; below chin, dolphin and below neck truncation, [ΣΙ]. Rev. Naked rider on horseback r., hurling spear and holding shield and two more spears; in upper field r., thunderbolt and below horse, ΑΠΟΛ. Vlasto G 10 (these dies). SNG France 1773 (these dies). McClean 595 and pl. 23, 17 (these dies). Fischer-Bossert G1d (this coin?). Historia Numorum Italy 905.
Extremely rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. A lovely and interesting
reverse composition, extremely fine / good extremely fine

Privately purchased from NAC London in 2011. Possibly from the A.D.M. collection.
Assigning dates to Greek gold coins is often difficult, but this issue of Tarentum seems to have been struck during Alexander the Molossian’s expedition to southern Italy, when in 334 he answered the plea of the Tarentines for aid against their non-Greek neighbours, the Lucanians and the Messapii. It was not the first (nor the last) time the Tarentines would seek help from other Greeks, for a decade earlier the Spartan king Archidamus had come to their aid against the same enemies, only to be killed in the effort. Alexander was a brother of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, as well as a brother-in-law of the more famous Alexander. With Macedonian help, he had been made king of the Molossians, the strongest of the Epeirot tribes; but in light of what his brother-in-law was achieving in the East, it seems this lesser Alexander entertained ambitions of conquering the West, which raised alarm among the Tarentines. Livy tells us that during the expedition, Alexander was victorious in a pitched battle against the Lucanians and the Samnites while he was marching up from Paestum. After that battle he made a treaty with the Romans (Rome and Italy viii.17.10), who had their own troubles with the Samnites; the nature of that alliance, however, is not known since Alexander was killed by a Lucanian in 330, before it could be enacted.