Bronze Didrachma, Tarentum Greek Legend Colony

Tarentum Greek Colony.

The inscription on the reverse is TARAS, the

citys Greek name, the only Spartan city outside of Greece, in this case in the Calabria region of the toe of Italy. There are still 200-300 speakers there of the Greek dialect Greko, partially descended from the Spartan Doric Greek. The obverse recalls the citys equestrian tradition.