Description Lucania, Metapontion, AR Stater 530-500 BC Metapontion, was a wealthy ancient Greek city in Italy on the Gulf of Tarentum. The city-state situated near the mouth of the Bradanus River provided fertile soil. The ear of barley on their coins represents this fertile land and what the city owed their wealth to. The early coins of Magna Graecia were very different than other ancient Greek coins.The coins were minted with an incuse technique, the same central image in relief on the obverse and aligned in negative on the reverse. It has been speculated that Pythagoras who died at Metapontion in 500 BC devised this feature “an attempt to realize in concrete form a confrontation of opposites that was characteristic of the Pythagorean system of thought” (Rutter 1997, Obverse: ME-TA, ear of barley with seven grains Reverse: Incuse ear of barley with seven grains Diameter: 30 mm Silver plated, lead free pewter, with finished patina, made in the USA. Packaged in a coin collecting flip with the description of coin printed on flip insert.
