(7) Terina, Bruttium (Italy) - AR stater, c. 440 B.C.,
7.75 g. (inv. 91.021).
Obverse: In olive wreath, head of nymph Terina l. wearing ampyx and
double necklace with pendants.
Reverse: Nike seated l. on overturned hydria, holding wreath in r.,
kerykeion in l.; 
:
of the Terinans.
Provenance: Ex Fred V. Fowler collection; Stack's, 1969.
Bibliography: R.R. Holloway and G.K. Jenkins, Terina (Bellinzona
1983).
Terina was a colony founded by Kroton on the western coast of Italy in the
late seventh or sixth century. The site of the ancient city is unknown and
little is known of its history, but like other Greek colonies in Italy and
Sicily, it had coinage of high quality. Its coinage began c. 460 B.C., but
it did not issue large numbers of coins until the second half of the fifth
century, when this coin was struck.
The local nymph Terina appears on the obverse of all the city's coins. Her
image varies over time, often apparently influenced by the depictions of
the nymph Arethusa on the coins of Syracuse, with
emphasis on the elaborate hairstyle, headband, and jewelry. On this coin
she has unusual, tightly waved hair rolled around an ampyx or headband,
which covers most of her forehead. The winged female on the reverse is Nike,
but as depicted here, seated on an overturned water jug, she is perhaps
also identified with Terina, the city's eponymous nymph and protectress
of its local water source. She wears a chiton and himation
and holds two of Nike's typical attributes, a wreath referring to victory
and a kerykeion or herald's staff associated with peace and prosperity.
C.L.L.
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Lawrence University
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