From the middle of the eighth century BC many Greek colonies were established along the southern coasts of Italy - these cities were collectively known as Magna Graecia. Cumae, the earliest major Greek city was founded c. 750 BC.

The mussel shell, together with the name of the city, KYME, appears as a reverse type on the early coinage of the city from around 500 BC on. During the 460's BC the female head of the eponymous nymph Kyme began to appear on the obverse, inscribed KYME. The reverse legend usually read 'from the Cumaeans', sometimes retrograde. From this period on symbols relating to the sea (marine life, crabs, sea monsters, dolphins) also appear around the traditional image of the mussel shell. The reverse of this stater (equivalent to the Phocaïc didrachm) shows a grain of barley placed above the shell - this symbol appears frequently after the capture of Cumae by Campania in c. 421 BC. Thereafter the city gradually began to loose its Greek identity.

Obv. Head of Kyme right.
Rev. Mussel shell and grain of barley, KYMAION.