Pythagoras and early Italian coinage

The early Italian coinage from the instep of the "boot" of Italy is very distinct. The reverses frequently mirror the obverses but incuse, rather than relief. Dating to the period c. 530-510 BC four of the obove five coins show this trait.

The top two are from Sybaris, the middle coin from Croton and the bottom two from Metapontum. 

The question arises why the distinctive relief/in use mirrored design? It has been suggested that it aids the stacking of the coins. That hypothesis doesn't really stand as, unless the sided of the coin are identical, they won't interlink. With hand made dies/punches this is not possible. 

One of the more intriguing suggestions is that their introduction is linked to the exile of Pythagoras from Samos. His father was a gem engraver and the skills of a coin die engraver are very similar. Pythagoras was exiled initially to Croton and then Metapontum around 530 BC and so the approximate timings are right. It is a possibility that this individual was responsible for the introduction of the distinctive coin design. 

Europa and Zeus

Tiberius, AE 20mm, Amphipolis in Macedon, Europa riding astride a bull (Zeus)

As the UK prepares to leave the EU it feels right to post on the legend of Europa and Zeus using excerpts from The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso:

On a beach in Sidon a bull was aping a lover’s coo. It was Zeus. He shuddered, the way he did when a gadfly got him. But this time it was a sweet shuddering. Eros was lifting a girl onto his back: Europa. Then the white beast dived into the sea, his majestic body rising just far enough above the water to keep the girl from getting wet.........Trembling Europa hung on to one of the bull’s long horns. Boreas spotted them as they ploughed through the waves. 

Europa could see no end to this crazy sea crossing. She guessed what would happen to her when they hit land again. And she shouted to the wind and water: “Tell my father that Europa has been carried off by a bull – my kidnapper, my sailor, my future bedmate, I imagine.” She was going to call to Boreas too, ask him to lift her up on his wings, the way he’d done with his own bride, Oreithyia, from Athens. But she bit her tongue: why swap one abductor for another?

Augustus, AE 20mm, Amphipolis in Macedon, Europa riding astride a bull (Zeus)