Larissa
Drachm circa 460-400, AR 5.36 g. Thessalos, with chlamys and petasus over shoulders, holding by the horns a bull butting r. Rev. Λ – Α – R – Ι Bridled horse galloping l.; all within incuse square. Herrmann Group IIIB, pl. I, 21 (these dies). Lorber 2008, pl. 41, 9. BCD Thessaly I, 1108 (this coin). BCD Thessaly II, 355.2 (this obverse die).
Very rare. Well struck and centred on a full flan and with
a lovely dark tone. Extremely fine

Ex Glendining 20 November 1975, 883 and Nomos 4, 2011, BCD, 1108 sales. Acquired by BDC from Spink & Son in January 1977.
This drachm depicts a Thessalian sport known as taurokathaspia (“bull-wrestling”) associated with the Taureia games celebrated in honor of Poseidon Taureios. Here a heroic figure attempts to wrestle a charging bull to the ground with a hold wrapping his arms around the deadly horns of the enraged animal. The great exertion of the wrestler is brilliantly underlined by the detail of the petasos flying off his head behind him as he tries to subdue the bull. While the action of the scene is crystal clear, there is a great deal of disagreement over the identity of the wrestler with some seeing him as an unnamed participant in the Taureia, others as Thessalos, the eponymous ancestor of the Thessalians, and still others as Jason, the leader of the Argonauts and father of Thessalos. The horse reverse is emblematic of Thessaly as a whole, a region that was famous in Greece for its broad plains that were capable of supporting horses in large numbers.