Taurokathapsia, or the Ancient Rodeo

Taurokathapsia was the the Creten sport in which a performer grasps the horns of a bull and somersaults over it - in other words, ancient rodeo. The Larissans minted various drachms celebrating the sport, such as this one (not my coin), during the 5th and 4th centuries BC...




Centuries later, the Thessalian League recapitulated the theme with these bronzes on which the rider is jumping off the horse onto the bull. From the BCD catalog...

The man has just jumped off his horse, which is galloping away in the background, and has put the band around the bull’s forehead... we can see one of his legs dangling in the air below the bull. His body is hidden by the bull’s body, but we can see his head and his arms, especially his right one.

These coins with glossy patinas are gorgeous in hand and maddeningly difficult to photograph, so I give you both true-color and oblique images...



This happens to be a BCD coin, with one of his circular tags and minuscule, fastidious handwriting, sold in a mixed lot by Kunker, then again at Triton XV...



This is NOT your average mixed-lot coin though - as far as I can tell, the type is extremely rare. Anyway, post your taurokathapsia scenes! Or listen to the Hoedown from Aaron Coplands ballet Rodeo...

 

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Nice one, JA. I agree... not your average mixed lot coin!

Here's one where he's already off the bull and trying to wrestle it down.


THESSALY, Pharkadon
Circa 440-400 BC
AR Hemidrachm
2.83g, 16.6mm
BCD Thessaly I 1269 var. (arrangement of ethnic); BCD Thessaly II 616.2 (same rev. die); HGC 4, 292.
O: Hero (Thessalos?), petasos and cloak tied at neck, holding band around head of forepart of bull right.
R: Φ-Α-Ρ-Κ (retrograde), forepart of horse right within incuse square.
Ex BCD Collection

 

Super coin @zumbly !

 

Also a book recommendation: The King Must Die, by Mary Renault - an absolutely riveting novel based on the legend of Theseus. If you are even remotely interested in Greek mythology, you will not be able to put it down.

 

I agree with @zumbly ....and what a terrific hemidrachm!!

 

That is a wonderful and interesting coin illustrating a pretty "tough" and possible ritualistic practice.

 

That is an interesting group of coins! Really cool.

 

Great coin JA, now I've got Copelands hoedown stuck in my head!

 

Here is a Medusa/bull bronze of Seleukos I:

The bull is thought to illustrate an event from Seleukos' life. Appian wrote "He was of such a large and powerful frame that once when a wild bull was bought for sacrifice to Alexander and broke loose from his ropes, Seleucus held him alone, with nothing but his hands, for which reason his statues are ornamented with horns."

 

Awesome coins, fellas (congrats)

JA, I gifted my humble ol' Larissian example to our cool coin-friend, Qucumbor (X-mas)

... I still have the seller's photos ...

Thessaly Larissa
460 BC
Bull's head with hero & Horse head (incuse)



Sorry for posting your coin, Q, but I got all misty-eyed thinking about it

... oh, but I still have this sweet example from Trikka ...

Thessaly, Trikka
440-400 BC
Thessalos with bull & Horse forepart

 

This Trikka hemidrachm used to be one of my favourites and I am glad it went to a good home! What is interesting about it is that it has been "tested" in ancient times (see the small gouge on the obverse and the "attempted piercing" on the reverse) but found to be "good". Trikka hemidrachms were extensively forged at the time, I have seen (and also owned) a large number of plated coins from this mint, some struck from crude, "home made" dies but most looking quite credible from the stylistic point of view. The ancient Thessalians must have been really good in detecting fakes that looked perfectly genuine (except perhaps for the weight, but nobody was carrying electronic scales under his chiton these days) because many of these coins had their silver coating intact even when they reached us. The only way to confirm that they were bad was to give them a chop mark and if the proper chisel and hammer was not available at the time, a gouge or an attempted piercing would be perfectly adequate. Another, very interesting fact connected with Trikka hemidrachms is that some of the genuine ones have come down to us countermarked with a small K which signifies KALON ("good" in ancient Greek). This tiny countermark appears always on the edge of the field on the obverse, as if the tester did not want to disfigure the coin type. Forgeries of these coins must have been really a serious problem, hence this countermarking from some central authority or "banker".

 

Loving it! Any idea why it looks like a zebu or what's going on with it's back?

 

Just to be clear, you're talking about Steve's coin? Thanks for the information.

 

Yes, I am. He acquired it from a recent CNG e-sale. I am not within reach of my notes and cannot say which one, although a search in Coin Archives or the CNG archives would reveal this. All I remember was that when I saw the results of the sale I said to myself: There is a guy who bought not just a bargain (pricewise) but an interesting coin from my collection. And I always wanted to let him know my thoughts about it. Now I had the opportunity to share these thoughts with more collectors. And this is the advantage of joining a discussion group. I wish I had done so before, and also that I would have more spare time to follow the discussions and add more comments on them. But time is in short supply when one is busy keeping his numismatic library up to date, an uphill battle if I may say so.

 

That is very cool! I'm glad you joined CoinTalk and look forward to seeing more of your former coins and your remarks about them .

 

Thank you for the reply! Like TIF said, I hope you keep posting. This forum has done wonders for my collection and passion in numismatics.

 

Wow, ab initito ... ummm, or should I call you Mr. B? (BCD)

Thanks, I really appreciate your comments on my/your old Trikka example (yah, that baby is a total winner, eh?)

Ummm, while I have you on the phone, I'd also like to thank you for "several" additions to my humble collection

Hey => sure, these coins might be your throw-aways, but honestly, these babies are among (amongst?) my all-time favourite coins!! (total winners!!)

Yah-yah for whatever reason, you've tossed these examples out of your obviously awesome collection (man, I'd love to thumb-through your keepers!!) ...

Again, while I have you on the phone => I'd like to say "thanks, coin-bro"

=> here is a sampling of the coins that you tossed-out and I picked-up ... we both totally rock, eh?

I like your coin-taste (yummy-yummy)

 

... ooops, I almost forgot ...




Cheers

=> here's to lovin' the coins in your/our collections!!

 

Hi SteveX6, you may call me BCD if you wish but I chose ab initio as a pseudonym because I felt it would be too presumptuous to advertise myself based on past achievements. Right now I feel (numismatically) more like a homeless person, such as the ones you see living in every street of NYC where I am for a week to follow the New York International and the various auctions.

As far as your ex BCD coins go let me tell you that while they may not be quite up to the condition of the examples picked for the auction, they are perfectly decent pieces that deserve a good home. If you post photos of the tag reverses I may be able to say a few more things about the provenance of some.

There will be more on offer in the future so keep your eyes open and your computer handy for... oops, what am I doing here, advertising my wares? Apologies to everyone, please cross out the above sentence.