LUCANIA. Velia. Approximately 300-280 BC. Didrachm or Nomos (Silver, 21 mm, 7.59 g, 5 h). Head of Athena to right, wearing crowned Attic helmet decorated with a grippin jumping right on the bowl; above vizor, Δ. Rev. YEAHTΩN Lion walking to right; on right foreleg, Y; above, pentagram between Φ and I. HN Italy 1306. SNG ANS 1374 (same this). SNG Ashmolean 1327 and 1329 (same this). Williams 439 (O217/R309). A Sharply struck and beautiful toned example of wonderful early Hellenistic style. Minor edge crack and with very light the rust on the obverse, otherwise, good extremely fine. Ex Leu 13, 27 May 2023, 14 and Hess-Divo 340, 1 June 2022, 15, and from an old Swiss collection, started in the 19th century. In antiquity, Velia gained prominent as the birthplace of the Eleatics, a monistic philosophical school. It's name derived from the Greek city name theλ-α = Elea, which in turn evolved from the original name theλη = Hyele in the 5th century BC. Established around 535 BC by Phokaian refugees escaping Persian rule in Asia Minor, the Velians not only learned and philosophical influences from the East, but also adopted the type of Athena with an Attic helmet idolned with a griffin from the electric coinage of their Ionian mother city, Phokaia. Conversely, the reverse of this wonderful didrachm depicts a lion, a depiction that was to become typical for the Velian coinage. This lot cannot be shipped to a US address.