BRUTTIUM. Terina. Circa 440-425 BC. Didrachm or Nomos (Silver, 23 mm, 7.89 g, 11 h). Head of the nymph Terina to left, wearing ampyx and pearl necklace with pendant; all within laurel wreath. Rev. TEPI-NAION Nike seated left on overturned hydria, wearing chiton and himation, holding wreath in her extended right hand and kerykeion in her left. HN Italy 2575. Holloway & Jenkins 12 (same dies). Regling 9 (dies H/θ). SNG ANS 801 (same dies). Beautifully toned and of splendid full classical style, a magnificent piece. A few small flan faults and with light marks, otherwise, good very fine.



Surprisingly little is known about Terina, a city that produced one of the finest series of coins in all of Magna Graecia. Likely founded in the late 6th or early 5th century as a colony of Kroton, Terina experienced a history marked by alternating periods of independence and subjugation to hostile powers, a common fate for many smaller Greek settlements in the region. The city was sacked by native Bruttians in 356 BCE and later destroyed by Hannibal in 203 BCE. However, there must have been a Roman settlement at some point, as Pliny references it in the 1st century CE (Plin. Hist. Nat. III, 10).

Terina's coinage has long captivated numismatists, and K. Regling's 1906 monograph was the first die study of any Greek coinage to be published. What makes the coins of Terina particularly appealing is that they consistently feature the nymph Terina on the obverse and a full-body figure of Nike on the reverse. The artists enliven these seemingly monotonous types by varying styles, attributes, and gestures. The present coin depicts Nike seated to the left on an overturned hydria rather than the usual cippus.

In keeping with the meticulous attention to detail characteristic of Terina's golden age, the hydria - a bulbous water jug often used as a container for grave offerings - displays even the side handles that would have been used to lift these typically heavy vessels. Nike’s entire pose, casually presenting her victory wreath while playfully lifting her left foot, radiates a charming lightness that beautifully contrasts with the nymph’s head on the obverse, whose seriousness is further accentuated by the strictly geometric encircling wreath.