ca 350-325 BCE
Æ 19mm, 7.41g, 6h
Beardless male head l., wearing pileos /
Skylla swimming l., right arm raised, holding oar in left.
HNItaly 2565; CNS III p. 319, 1 (under unidentified mercenaries); SNG ANS 800; SNG Copenhagen 1993; HGC 1, 1722
Ex Anders Collection
The reverse of this coin features the sea monster Skylla, who terrorized ships and was mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey. By some stories, the city itself was founded by Odysseus, but most ancient sources attribute its founding to settlers from Athens, even though Skylletion was not friendly to them.
The city was not very large and usually depended on its neighbors Krotona or the Lokrians.