Parthenope, siren-foundress of Neapolis

In the late fourth to early third century BC, amid the shifting alliances and hard-fought wars that would determine the destiny of southern Italy, the Greek city of Neapolis struck a series of silver nomoi whose beauty and symbolism remain among the most evocative of Magna Graecia. This coin preserves the identity of an independent Greek polis negotiating the rise of Roman power, preserving local myth, and asserting civic pride through images deeply rooted in Neapolitan memory.

Strabo (Geography 5.4.7) describes Neapolis (Naples) as a city that visibly preserves much of its Greek heritage, even though by his time it is politically Roman. He notes that the city claims a strong connection to Parthenope, one of the Sirens: a monument or tomb of Parthenope is shown there, and, following an oracle, a gymnastic contest is held in her honor. In Strabo’s day, the city still retained many Greek traditions. Many Romans were so charmed by the Greek ambience and the community of Greek-speaking residents that they chose to settle in Neapolis permanently.

Strabo also highlights local engineering achievements: the tunnel between Dicaearchia (Puteoli) and Neapolis, through a mountain and large enough for two teams to pass side by side. Light shafts were cut to bring daylight down from the surface. Hot springs and bath complexes that Strabo describes as nearly equal in quality to those at nearby Baiae.

Struck sometime between roughly 325 and 241 BC, the coin belongs to a long and distinguished series. It weighs just over 7.5 grams, consistent with the South Italian didrachm standard, and bears the characteristic imagery of Neapolis:

• on the obverse, the serene head of a nymph wearing a jeweled necklace, pendant earring, and diadem

• on the reverse, a man-faced bull striding right, crowned by a flying Nike, with the monogram NY below.

The style of the dies is harmonious, confident, and elegant and reflects a period when Greek engravers in Campania were producing work of remarkable refinement.

Campania, Neapolis. Ca. 325-241 BC. Silver Nomos (7.53 g).

Obv: Nymph head r with elaborate jewelry and headband.

Rev: Manheaded bull r. crowned by flying Nike. Below NY monogram.

Ref: SNG Cop. 437; SNG ANS 374; Sambon 478, HN Italy 579.

Notes: Lovely style and well struck. Lightly toned. Choice Very Fine. Ex "ZSS" Collection; Ex Goldberg Auction.

The nymph on the obverse is generally identified as Parthenope, the siren-foundress of Neapolis. According to the city’s foundation myth, the body of Parthenope washed ashore where the settlement would rise, and her cult formed a continuous thread in Neapolitan civic identity. The city held annual torch-races (lampadedromiai) in her honor - rituals celebrating light, renewal, and protection.

Fontana della Spinacorona, an ancient fountain in central Naples, located against a wall of the church of Santa Caterina della Spina Corona. The siren Parthenope (icon of Naples) douses, with water from her breasts, the flames of the volcano of Vesuvius. Rebuilt in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The reverse imagery invokes the region’s life-giving waters. The man-faced bull - an iconographic convention for a river god, most commonly Achelous - almost certainly represents the Sebethos, the local stream that sustained early settlement. As he strides forward, Nike descends to place a wreath upon his horned head. This gesture of crowning is not triumphal in a military sense; it is civic and sacred. It proclaims Neapolis’ good fortune, prosperity, and divine favor. In a time marked by wars between Rome, the Samnites, and the Greek cities of southern Italy, Neapolis’ coinage offered a visual statement of autonomy and cultural continuity.

Carelli - Numorum Italiae veteris tabulas, 1850 #65

playing around with an AI image generator - this pseudo-Carelli image uses my coin as its reference:

Nicholas Molinari argues Koinion 2022:

"In the final analysis, then, there are many good reasons to think that the flying figure above Acheloios Sebethos is Parthenope-Nike: the nymphs are fairly often syncretized with Nike in Southern Italy and Sicily, and the Neapolitans actually exhibit such a syncretism on two obols; much like Nike, nymphs assimilate with other religious figures, demonstrating the ease with which their lore can be adapted for specific cultic purposes; the Sirens need not be depicted with a full avian body, which is clear from many ancient accounts...."

In 327/326 BC, during the Second Samnite War, Neapolis was seized by Rome but subsequently granted a treaty that preserved unusually broad self-government. This arrangement placed the city in the delicate position of being a loyal Roman ally while still culturally Greek, economically independent, and integrated into the Hellenic network of Magna Graecia.

Through the Third Samnite War (298–290 BC) and the Pyrrhic War (281–275 BC), Neapolis maintained that balancing act: participating in the Roman alliance system while retaining its own institutions, sanctuaries, and artistic traditions. The continued minting of silver nomoi with the nymph and the river god was therefore an act of political expression. It declared continuity despite shifting sovereigns and demonstrated that Roman military ascendancy had not erased the city’s Greek identity.

Southern Campania, Neapolis, c. 270-250 BC. Æ19 (~6grams) Obv: Laureate head of Apollo l.; O behind. Rev: Man-headed bull standing r., being crowned by Nike who flies above; IΣ below. Ref: HNItaly 589

As an interesting sequel to this story the ancient coin inspired a coin from Naples about 2000 years later: Maria Annunziata Carolina Murat (née Bonaparte) (1782-1839) or Queen Caroline is the "Parthenope" on this impressive restoration issue! This one a restoration of a restoration issue - as this coin was not from the orginal strike - reissued around 1890-1900.

France, Première Empire. Caroline Bonaparte. Queen Consort of Naples and Sicily, 1808-1815. AR Medal (23mm, 7.22g, 12h). By Brenet (after a nomos of Neapolis). Restrike late 19th century (after 1880). BAΣIΛIΣΣA KAPOΛINH, diademed head right, wearing triple-pendant earring and pearl necklace / Man-headed bull standing right, head facing; above, crowning Nike flying right; NEΩΠOΛITΩN in exergue. Edge: cornucopia / corne d'abondance ARGENT. Cf. Bramsen 772 (for prototype). EF, attractively toned.

Caroline Bonaparte, Napoleon’s ambitious younger sister, and Joachim Murat, Napoleon's dazzling cavalry commander, became King and Queen of Naples in 1808. For a few years, their reign looked almost like a Mediterranean fairy tale: the glamorous royal couple modernized the kingdom, patronized the arts, cultivated a brilliant court in Naples, and raised their four children in remarkable splendor. Murat’s charisma and Caroline’s political talent won them genuine local popularity.

The story turned sharply as Napoleon’s empire began to unravel. Hoping to preserve his throne, Murat broke with Napoleon during the final crises of 1814–1815 and tried to reposition himself as an Italian nationalist. Napoleon, furious at this perceived betrayal, offered no protection when Murat’s gamble failed. After a brief, quixotic attempt to rally Italy, Murat was captured and executed by firing squad in October 1815.

Caroline fled into exile with their children, living out her remaining years under assumed names and shifting protections, a fallen queen trying to salvage a future from the ruins of Napoleon’s broken world.  She died in Florence in 1839, still using the “Countess of Lipona” as her identity - note "Lipona"  is an anagram of "Napoli"