GREECE. BRUTTIUM. CROTON. Didrachm ø 21mm (7.55g).... Lot 1033

GREECE. BRUTTIUM. CROTON. Didrachm ø 21mm (7.55g). ca. 380 - 325 B.C. Vs.: ΚΡΟΤΟΝΙΑ-ΤΑΣ, head of Apollo with laurel wreath n. r.. Rs.: The boy Heracles strangling the serpents sent by Hera. Attianese, Kroton 163; SNG ANS 386 (Rs. stgl.); SNG Munich 1460; HN Italy 2157; Franke-Hirmer 271; HGC 1, 1462. good style! Light toning, ss-vz The reverse motif is iconographically based ostensibly on the symmetry coinage of the Asia Minor cities of Ephesus, Byzantium, Cyzicus, Samos, Knidos and Iasos from the late 5th and early 4th centuries B.C. However, closer examination reveals distinct stylistic and compositional differences. While the Asia Minor coinage shows the Heracles boy folded out flat, comparatively passive, with arms encircled by snakes, the Crotonian work clearly gains depth through the right leg bent forward. The dynamics of the action and the strength of the child hero are emphasized by the hero bravely facing one of the attacking snakes and simultaneously grabbing them both by the collar while pushing their bodies apart with powerful arms. In these compositional advances, not only a different artist's hand is expressed, but probably also a temporal difference, which is also confirmed by the front, which is obviously to be stylistically classified later. A direct temporal connection with the Asia Minor coinage therefore probably does not exist.