Stater (Coin) Depicting a Horseman

380-345 BCE

Greek; minted in Taras (now Taranto), Italy

The front (obverse) of this coin depicts a nude horseman galloping to the left, holding a shield. The back (reverse) depicts Taras, nude, riding on a dolphin to the left.

The boy riding the dolphin on this coin represents Taras, the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea. According to the founding myth of the city of Taras (Tarentum), when Taras was lost at sea, a dolphin rescued him and deposited him on the shore of Calabria in Italy, where the city of Taras grew and prospered. When this coin was struck, four hundred years after the city’s founding, the philosopher Archytas ruled Taras. His coinage is known for the beauty of its design.

Status: On View, Gallery 151
Department: Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Greek
Title: Stater (Coin) Depicting a Horseman
Place: Taranto (Minted in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Struck 380 BCE–345 BCE
Medium: Silver
Inscriptions: Obverse: Π Reverse: ΤΑΡΑΣ Α
Dimensions: Diam.: 2 cm (13/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
Reference Number: 1922.4915
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/5744/manifest.json

Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 29.
Elizabeth Hahn Benge, “From Aegina to Andronicus: A Survey of Coinage at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Historia Mundi n. 5 (January 2016), pp. 204-5 (fig. 6).

Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151, November 11, 2012 - present.

Martin A. Ryerson (1856-1932), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.