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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 

Final Thessalian Taurokathapsia Type

299, Lot: 29. Estimate $200.
Sold for $240. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Koinon of Thessaly. Nero. AD 54-68. Æ Trihemiassarion(?) (20mm, 7.02 g, 6h). Aristion, strategos. NEPΩN Θ-EΣΣAΛΩN, laureate head right / API-ΣTIΩN/OΣ, Taurokathapsia scene: The hero Thessalos jumping from his horse, in background galloping right, onto a bull running right, the head of which he restrains with a band held in both of his hands; monogram below. Burrer Em. 1, Series 2, – (A8a/R– [unlisted rev. die]); BCD Thessaly II 931.2 (same dies); RPC I 1440. VF, dark green patina, minor roughness.


From the BCD Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group eAuction 224, lot 366.

The taurokathapsia was a form of bull fighting that was popular at many games in the ancient Greek world, and particularly in Crete and Thessaly. Scenes of this event are depicted on coins from various cities of Thessaly, but it is especially prevalent in the 5th century BC coinage at Larissa, which provides much of the current evidence about the taurokathapsia. In the Thessalian version of the event, a man on horseback was to chase down and subdue a bull. He first rode alongside the running bull, then grabbed the bull by the horns and jumped from his steed onto the back of the bull. It is now known – after close examination of some dies used for silver denominations – that the rider then subdued the bull by passing a cloth or (more likely) a leather band below his horns, thus restricting or posssibly even totally blocking his eyesight. This would cause the animal to lose his ferocity and eventually come to a halt.

Interestingly, the early phase of the event is not depicted on the coins at Larissa, but can be seen on rare issues of Atrax (BCD Thessaly II 53), where the rider is pursuing the bull, and the Thessalian League (BCD Thessaly II 897 and the current type), where the rider is shown moving from his horse to the bull.