Campania, Neapolis. Silver nomos (didrachm), c. 420-400 BC

Campania, Neapolis. Silver nomos (didrachm), c. 420-400 BC – c. 22 mm, c. 7.09 g (die axis 6 h). Obverse: head of the local nymph (often identified with Parthenope) right, hair collected under a sakkos and bound with a broad taenia; single pendant earring and dotted necklace visible. Reverse: Nike flying right, extending a wreath to crown a bearded man-headed bull that strides right; Greek legend ΝΕΟΠΟΛ[Ι] in exergue, all within a shallow incuse.  HN Italy 568; Rutter, Greek Coinages of Southern Italy 96; SNG ANS 435-440. Dark silvery cabinet tone.

Neapolis (modern Naples) adopted the familiar Campanian type of a man-headed river bull in the later fifth century BC, proclaiming both the fertility of its hinterland and its kinship with coastal cities such as Sybaris and Poseidonia that used the same image. The nymph on the obverse personifies the city’s mythical siren-foundress, linking Neapolis to the epic lore of Odysseus. Struck on the Attic weight didrachm standard, these coins served regional exchange throughout the Bay of Naples until the introduction of lighter drachms around 350 BC.