Stater

This stater from the Greek city of Kroton in southern Italy features a tripod, a bowl on three tall legs with rings on its rim. The tripod is in raised relief on the front, but on the reverse the motif has been stamped into the surface by striking the coin blank with a punch. In ancient Greece, such stamped designs, called incuses, were usually found only on early coinages. 

The tripod on the Kroton coins is the famed Oracle of the Greek god Apollo that stood in his temple at Delphi, in Greece. Seated on the tripod, a priestess gave Apollo's answers to questions that had been submitted for the god's consideration. It was this very Oracle that advised a Greek named Myscellus to found Kroton. The front of the coin depicts a heron to the left of the tripod. This water-bird presumably evoked the coastal environment of Kroton. To the right of the tripod, the city's name appears in a three-letter abbreviation, "Kro.", although wear has rendered the inscription hard to see.