27.09.2013 Views

Submitted for award of PhD September 2006. - King's College London

Submitted for award of PhD September 2006. - King's College London

Submitted for award of PhD September 2006. - King's College London

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

letters. Friedländer's view that Hyrina was the older name <strong>of</strong> Nola has been rejected, and<br />

today it is accepted that the location <strong>of</strong> this town cannot be ascertained.<br />

594<br />

Rutter distinguished several phases in the minting <strong>of</strong> coins <strong>of</strong> Nola and Hyrina. On<br />

the obverses <strong>of</strong> the earlier Hyrina coins, the head <strong>of</strong> Athena appears wearing a helmet<br />

and occasionally with an owl. On later coins, a female head appears with a necklace, her<br />

hair freely flowing out <strong>of</strong> a polos (head dress) decorated with griffins; she is identified as<br />

Hera Lakinia. The latest coins bear either the head <strong>of</strong> Athena or a young female head.<br />

The earliest obverses <strong>of</strong> the Nolan coins show the same head <strong>of</strong> Athena, with helmet and<br />

owl, while the latest coins from the town show almost exclusively the same young<br />

female head as the Hyrina coins. All reverses show a man-headed bull, sometimes with<br />

Victoria flying above to crown him. Rutter argued that the man-headed bull should be<br />

identified with the river-god Achelous. 595<br />

The first centre <strong>of</strong> coin production in Campania was Cumae, beginning in the first<br />

quarter <strong>of</strong> the fifth century BC. When the Samnites occupied Cumae, production moved<br />

to Naples. 596<br />

There was a general increase in coin production in Campania from the late<br />

fifth century BC when the coinage <strong>of</strong> Samnite communities, some <strong>of</strong> whose names are<br />

known only from coins, appeared.<br />

597 Both Greek and Samnite coinages followed the<br />

iconography and weight-system <strong>of</strong> Cumae and Naples. Significant similarities <strong>of</strong> style<br />

and metal content between the coins <strong>of</strong> Naples issued from 420 BC and the coins <strong>of</strong><br />

Nola and Hyrina have been recognized. Rutter dated the coinage <strong>of</strong> Hyrina to the last<br />

decade <strong>of</strong> the fifth century BC. 598 The first Nolan coins were struck contemporaneously<br />

594<br />

Friedlander (1850) 36.<br />

595<br />

Rutter (1969) 24-8.<br />

596<br />

Rutter (1979) 96. See section 4.2.<br />

597<br />

The ethnics Hyrina, Fenserni, Fistelian are known only from coins, their exact location cannot be<br />

ascertained.<br />

598<br />

Rutter (1969) 72 and 99.<br />

165

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!