bga_664356 - SALLUVII Obole scyphate à la corne

SALLUVII

(2nd century BC)

There is a legend around the creation of the heavy drachma of Marseilles that this coin was made to help the Romans pay ransom to the Gauls who had besieged the Urbs in 390 BC. The right seems inspired by the beautiful heads of the nymph Arethusa of Syracuse while the reverse may have been inspired by the workshops of Magna Graecia such as Velia. Marseille also adopted the Campanian standard used by Velia with a drachma of 3.70 g. This piece is an important link in Massali's history. A lion of Velia was worth two lions of Marseilles and proves the economic links which united the two cities in the face of Etruscan and Carthaginian dangers. There are also early imitations, works of the Salyens of the Marseille hinterland. The heavy drachma quickly disappeared.