Silver diobolus
| Measures | ø 1,2 |
| Place and chronology | Salentino - Tomb. 6. End of the 4th / early 3rd century BC |
A coin for the afterlife.
According to a very ancient belief, to pass from the world of the living to the world of the dead you had to have with you ... a coin! This object was used to pay Charon, the ferryman of the afterlife, to cross the river Acheron that flowed in the netherworld.
If the deceased did not have this coin, he would wander forever among the mists rising from the river's waters. For this reason, coins, in many eras and in many cultures, are one of the most common objects found in tombs.
This silver coin was found in a tomb.
The spike depicted is accompanied by the initials META, recalling the city of Metaponto founded by the Greeks on a very fertile land, from which derived all of its wealth!
