Numismata hellenica: a catalogue of Greek coins; with notes, a map ...

128 EUROPEAN GREECE.
Metal
M
M
JE
M
M
M
M M M
Size
4
3
3
n
6
•H
6
5
4
Weight
123-4
119-3
120-8
120-5
119
118-8
36-2
Veiled female head, with sphendone (Juno ?), to r. ; behind, • (sextans). B:- Cockle
in exergue, .... ERI.
shell ;
Head of Apollo to r. ; behind •
(uncia). U. LOVCERI in two lines ; between them,
frog.
Another.
MESMA, sive Medma.
Note.— Hipponium and Mesma, called also Medma and Medaraa, were colonial offsets from Locri,
and stood twelve geographical miles asunder ; the former to the northward, the latter to the southward
of that great projection from the western side of the southern extremity of Italy, which ends
in Cape Tropcea. Mesma was distant 250 stades from the straits of Messana, which identifies it*^
position with that of the river, now called Mesima. The name was derived from a remarkabU
fountain, probably a principal source of the river, for the town appears to have stood not very neat
the sea-shore, having had a port named Emporium (Strabo, p. 266).
[MESMA]. Female head to r. ; behind, monota ?. B. Naked figure, seated on
rock, to I., right hand held above a large dog, looking up from between his legs ;
to the r., [bow] .
Note.—For a drawing of this coin, taken from an obverse in better condition, see Millingen, Cities
and Kings, PI. ii. fig. 1.
MESMAIQN. Head of Apollo to r. R. Female head, adv., with wreath of corn
round the head ;
in field to L, monota.— Electrotype from the B. M.
A T
A* E*
R
A\ET.
AT^^^.
/ACT/?.
Note.—The vase on this reverse indicates that the head is that of Mesma, the fountain, which
gave name to the town ; the garland of com, alluding to the produce of the Mesmsea, seems to make
her a nymph in the train of Ceres.
METAPUS (Metapontium).
Note.—There can be little doubt that the name MetapCis, or Metapontium, is derived from Metapa,
a city which stood on the shore of one of the lakes in the plains of .^Etolia, which feed the Achelous
(Tr. in N. Greece, i. p. 145). One of the following coins, which represents on one side a tauromorphous
human figure, with the legend AXEAOIO A0AON, L e. ayuivos 'Axt^ifiov aOXov, shews
that the coin was part of a prize given in some games, celebrated at Metapontium, in honour
of the deified Achelous, and thus connects Metapontium with ^tolia. The remote antiquity,
apparent on some of the Metapontine coins, accords with its reputed foundation by the Pylii
of Nestor, returning from Troy (Strabo, p. 204), as well as with the pretensions of the people, who,
according to Justin (20, 2), preserved, in their temple of Minerva, the instruments with which
Epeius, their founder, had fabricated the Trojan horse.
The ear of com, and head of Ceres, which are the most common types on the Metapontine money,
are memorials of the fertility of the territory in cereal productions ; the importance of the city in the
best times of Greece is proved, — historically, by its treasury at Delphi (Pausan. 6, 19), and its
dedication there of a xp""""" Sipos, or golden field of com (Strabo, p. 2G4),—
monumentally,
by its rich series of silver money, and by the ruins of a Doric temple, standing on the left bank of the
Bradanus (now Bradano), at about four miles from the sea, but anciently much nearer, all the rivers
on this coast having caused an increase of soil on the shore. On the situation of the ruins of Meta-
pontium, compare Swinburne, ii. p. 116. Keppel Craven, p. 197.
Ear of bearded corn in high relief, on a field sunk within a dotted border.
The same, incuse, without legend.
Same type. R. Same type.
Same type. R. Same type.
Same type. R. Same type.
Same legend and type. R. Same type.
AT3^. Same type; to the r., cicada. R. Bearded ear of corn, incuse.
MET. Bearded ear of corn. R. T3'A. (letters raised.) Same type.