copy, exhibit case layout

Object label written for the reinstallation of the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art. 

Unknown artist, Greek
Two-drachma coin (didrachm), 380-345 BCE
Silver

This coin depicts Phalanthos, a native Spartan and the founder of the Greek colony of Tarentum. According to legend, Phalanthos was once saved by a dolphin during a shipwreck. He was therefore often depicted as he is here, astride a dolphin. The horseman on the obverse of the coin examines a pillar topped with the head of a god, called a herm. The stillness of this scene offers a contrast to the leaping dolphin and Phalanthos on the reverse.