220 FISH IN SACRIFICES— VIVARIA— ARCHIMEDES 



copper coin of Carteia ^ depicts an angler, possibly lyiercury — 

 a god of fishing. Sinope, and many other places, have left 

 similar numismatic representations. Of most interest from a 

 monetar}^ point of view are the Greek diobols of Tarentum. 

 Those bearing the figure of Taras on his dolphin passed as 

 current token in the fish market. 2 



Famous for the beauty of their execution were some of the 

 Syracusan coins, representing the head of Arethusa surrounded 

 by dolphins. The accounts of the legend vary. Shortly, the 



TWO MEN FISHING, FROM COINS OF CARTEIA. 



From A. Heiss, 49, 20-21. See N. i. 



lovely maid of the train of Artemis fled the embraces of her 

 lover Alpheus, 



" Arethusa arose 

 From her couch of snows 

 In the Acroceraunian Mountains," 



and prevailed on Oceanus to open a way through his waves till 



that a pig of metal was sometimes called Se\(pis. These fish-shaped pieces may 

 be the degenerate representatives of similar-shaped pigs of bronze." He refers 

 to Ardaillon, Les Mines dii Laurin, p. in, who compares the French saumoii 

 with the meaning of " a pig of metal." 



1 In Pitra, op. cii., pp. 508-512, will be found a list of 156 coins, gems, etc., 

 illustrating the connection of various fishes with deities and places. For the 

 coins of Carteia, see A. Heiss, Description ghu'rale des nionnaies antiques de 

 I'Espagne, Paris, 1870, p. 331 f.. pi. 49, 19-21 (= my Fig. supra). The salsa- 

 mentum of this town was in special request ; its boasted excellence might be 

 perhaps accounted for b\- Strabo's statement that the diet of the Tunnies off 

 Carteia consisted of acorns which grew in that sea, just as land acorns with an 

 occasional truffle achieve, according to gourmets, for the Spanish pig the 

 primacy of hams. Alas ! for such conjecture, science shows that the Tunny 

 throve on Fiicus vesiculosiis, not acorns. Cf. Keller, op. cit. 3S3. 



^ B. V. Head, Historia Mumorum, Oxford, 1911, p. 67: "These httle 

 coins formed the staple of the common currency in the Tarentine fish-markets, 

 as well as in the rural districts subject to Tarentum, and even beyond its 

 territories — in ApuHa and Samnium for instance." 



