v49_0010 - LUCANIA - METAPONTUM Obole, (MB, Æ 21)

LUCANIA - METAPONTUM

(470-350 BC)

Metaponte, an Achaean colony located in the Gulf of Taranto, is said to have been founded in 773 BC. First allied with the Sybarites and the Crotoniates, it then took possession of the territories of Siris. After the destruction of Sybaris by Crotone in 510 BC, the city welcomed Pythagoras. It played an important role until the end of the Punic Wars. This coinage was struck in 334 BC, at the time of the intervention of Alexander the Molossus, brother-in-law of Alexander the Great, who was called by the Tarentines to fight against the tribes of southern Italy . Alexander establishes a workshop in Métaponte. He died at the Battle of Pandosia in 330 BC fighting against the Lucanians and the Bruttians.