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COINS OF
ANCIENT SICILY
Frontispiece
SYRACUSAN 'MEDALLIONS'
COIN
ANCIENT 'Y
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i'UOOK OF GREKK AVO ROMAN
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FRONTISPIECE
PAGB
i'^'Syracuse : decadrachm (Cimon, obv.) 98 foil.
2. „ „ {Cimon). Paris, Btblioiheque Nationale 98 foil.
3. „ „ ( » ) 98 foil
4. „ „ (Euaenetus) 99 foil
5- ,, ,> ( » ) 99 foil
6. ,, „ ( ,, ) 99 foil.
7. „ „ (Unknown Artist). Thompson Yates
Collection 103 foil.
COINS OF
ANCIENT SICILY
BY
G. F. HILL, M.A.
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COINS, BRITISH MUSEUM
AUTHOR OF 'a HANDBOOK OF GREEK AND ROMAN COINS,' ETC.
WITH SIXTEEN COLLOTYPE PLATES OF COINS
EIGHTY ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
AND A MAP
WESTMINSTER
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO., Ltd.
2 WHITEHALL GARDENS
1903
RfFSE i
OXFORD
HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
It can hardly be denied that the popularization
of archaeological studies is not from certain points
of view a desirable undertaking. The disadvantages
which every specialist must perceive in any but
a rigidly scientific treatment of his subject are as
patent in the case of coins as elsewhere ; and I may
therefore be expected to apologize for adding to
the number of books which increase the bulk of
the literature of numismatics without bringing grist
to the mill of science. I have no apology which
will not appear to halt in the eyes of the profes-
sional numismatist; but the archaeologist who is
not specially trained in the study of coins will,
I hope, be more merciful. The technicality of the
study — a necessity if that study was ever to advance
beyond the stage of dilettantism in which it once
lingered — is rapidly increasing. The classification
and arrangement of coins are being effected with
extraordinary minuteness, made possible by recent
progress in methods of mechanical reproduction.
vi PREFACE
Only those who are in daily touch with the litera-
ture which is being produced in growing quantities
can hope to keep abreast of the advance, and that
in the sense not of actually possessing information
on more than one branch of the subject, but merely
of knowing where to look for it. It is a conviction
of the high interest, to all students of antiquity and
lovers of art, of many things in the history of
Sicilian coinage which are hidden away in special,
highly technical publications, that has suggested
the compilation of this book. Even if archaeologists
feel that its treatment of the subject is too slight,
they will perhaps find the illustrations useful. As
regards those who are not skilled in any branch of
archaeology, it is fair to say that no beginner of the
study of Greek art can afford to neglect Sicilian
coins, and no traveller in Sicily who cannot appre-
ciate their beauty and historical value deserves the
privilege of visiting the island. Possibly this volume
may serve to whet the appetite for something more
substantial and worthier the subject, for the works
of Evans, Gardner, Head, Holm and Imhoof-Blumer
— to mention some of the names most intimately
connected with the study of Sicilian coins. Where
these chapters are tedious, and degenerate into a
mere list of types, the reader will find that the
matters inadequately dealt with here acquire interest
PREFACE vii
when studied in greater detail under the guidance
of writers such as I have named. It would be
impertinent in me to express my obligations to their
works. They are the foundation on which all later
comers must build. So much so, that many passages
in this book, to those familiar with their writings,
must read like sheer plagiarism. But I may be
pardoned for not always acknowledging the source
of a view which, thanks to the authority of its
propounder, has become one of the commonplaces
of numismatic criticism. If, on the other hand,
I have ventured occasionally to differ from the ex-
pressed opinion of any one of them, it has been in
many cases with the support of another, and in all,
I trust, with becoming modesty.
With some hesitation I have adopted the sugges-
tion of a friend, and inserted in the Introduction
a brief sketch of Sicilian History down to the begin-
ning of the Imperial period. Such sketches are
seldom satisfactory, nor can I allege any reason
why the present one should not be ignored by those
who have by them Freeman's little volume on Sicily
in the ' Story of the Nations ' series, not to mention
the greater works of the same writer, of Holm and
of Pais.
I desire to express my gratitude to the Trustees
of the British Museum for the generous loan of
viii PREFACE
many of the woodblocks originally cut for the
British Museum Catalogue of the Greek Coins of
Sicily. These have enabled me to illustrate in the
text a large number of coins which would else either
have been excluded themselves, or have ousted
others from the plates. The woodcuts, though they
cannot be expected always to do justice to the
originals, may yet serve as a rough indication of
the types.
For permission to use the woodblocks of Figs. 23,
24, 27, 34, and 42, my thanks are due to their owners,
the Council of the Numismatic Society of London,
and Mr. Arthur Evans, whose articles in the Numis-
matic Chronicle they were made to illustrate. I am
also deeply indebted to many who, in the case of
coins not well represented in our national collection,
have supplied information or impressions, or per-
mitted the use of casts already accessible to me;
more especially I may mention the official staff of
the Cabinets of Berlin and Paris, and — among private
collectors— Dr. F. Imhoof-Blumer, Messrs. Arthur
Loebbecke, S. A. Thompson Yates, John Ward, and
Sir Hermann Weber. The British Museum series
of electrotypes of rare coins has been drawn upon
with the object of making the illustrations as com-
plete as possible. Where the illustrations are not
taken from the British Museum collection, I have
PREFACE ix
indicated in the key to the plates the collection to
which the specimens belong. All the coins, unless
otherwise described in the key, must be regarded as
being of silver.
Finally, I must not omit to record my debt to
Mr. Warwick Wroth, and especially to Mr. George
Macdonald, who have bestowed great pains on the
reading of my proofs, and made suggestions which
in almost every case I have been glad to adopt.
G. F. HILL.
British Museum,
Dec. 1902.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface v
List of Plates xii
List of Illustrations in the Text . . . xiii
Introduction i
Chapter I : The Earliest Coinage ... 36
„ II : From Himera to the Assinarus . 53
„ III: The Fine Period .... 97
„ IV: The Decline 149
„ V: From Hiero II to Tiberius . . 186
Appendix: The Maltese Group and Pantellaria 227
Select Bibliography 231
Index I : Subjects 237
Index II : Greek 253
LIST OF PLATES
Syracusan ' Medallions '
Plate I . . ,
II . . ,
III . . .
IV . . ,
V . .
VI . , .
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV .
Map of Sicily .
Frontispiece
face p.
48
58
>>
66
»
76
j>
82
106
M
122
>»
130
)>
142
»;
148
>j
160
>>
174
>>
196
)■)
218
>f
226
}i
256
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN
THE TEXT
FIG. PAGE
1. Zancle : Drachm 38
2. Camarina : LiTRA 51
3. Himera: Obol 69
4. HiMERA : LiTRA . 69
5. Catana-Aetna : Litra or Obol .... 74
6. Camarina : Didrachm 80
7. Gela : Didrachm 83
8. Segesta : Didrachm 86
9. Segesta : Didrachm ....... 87
10. Eryx : Litra 89
11. Eryx: Litra 90
12. Galaria : Litra or Obol 90
13. Henna : Litra 91
14. Hipana : Litra 92
15. Stiela : Half-Drachm 92
16. Panormus : Tetradrachm 93
17. Panormus: Obol ....... 93
18. Panormus : Didrachm 93
19. Panormus : Litra 93
20. MoTYA : Tetradrachm 94
21. Motya: Didrachm 94
22. Motya : Obol 95
23. Syracuse : Decadrachm by the ' New Artist.*
A. J. Evans Collection 103
24. Syracuse : Tetradrachm 108
25. Syracuse: Gold iii
XIV
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG.
26.
27.
28.
29.
32.
33-
34.
35-
36.
37-
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43-
44.
45-
46.
47.
48.
49.
50-
51-
52.
53-
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
. Chron. 1891, p. 362
Syracuse : Bronze Litra
Syracuse : * Pegasus ' (Num. Chron. 1891, p. 362)
Syracuse : Electrum
Gela : Gold
Gela : Bronze
Camarina : Obol
Camarina : Litra
Camarina : Obol
Leontini : ' Pegasus * [Num
Segesta : Tetradrachm
Nacona : Bronze
Morgantina : Litra
Abacaenum : Litra
MoTYA : DiDRACHM
Solus : Bronze .
Ras Melkart : Tetradrachm .
SicuLO-PuNic Tetradrachm
Syracuse : Bronze
Syracuse : Gold of Agathocles
Syracuse : Gold of Agathocles
Syracuse : Bronze
AcRAGAs : Litra .
Acragas : Bronze Half-Litra
AcRAGAS : Bronze of Phintias
Gela : i^ Obol .
Gela : Bronze
Messana-Mamertini : Bronze
Tyndaris : Bronze
'Alliance* Bronze .
'New* Coinage: Bronze .
Hadranum : Bronze .
Hadranum : Bronze .
Agyrium : Bronze
Agyrium : Bronze
Centuripae : Bronze .
Lipara : Bronze .
Lipara : Bronze .
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv
FIG. PAGE
63. Entella : Bronze 183
64. Campanians (?) : Litra 184
65. Campanians (?) : Bronze Litra .... 185
66. Syracuse: 'Pegasus' of Hiero II . . . . 187
67. Syracuse : 16 Litrae 196
68. Syracuse : 10 Litrae 196
69. AcRAGAS : 4 Litrae 19^
70. Acragas : Bronze 199
71. LiPARA : Bronze Semis 203
72. Agrigentum : Bronze of Augustus . . . . 211
73. LiPARA : Bronze 215
74. Cephaloedium : Bronze 216
75. Solus : Bronze 219
76. Hybla Megala : Bronze 220
77. Petra : Bronze ... .... 220
78. AssoRus : Bronze 221
79. Haluntium : Bronze 222
80. Uncertain Bronze 223
COINS OF ANCIENT SICILY
INTRODUCTION
Among the many students of ancient life, and the
many who, though they cannot be called students,
are yet aware that there is much in ancient life worthy
of their attention, there are not a few to whom
Greek antiquities of any kind, in the concrete sense,
are an unknown quantity. There are also many
who, familiar as they may be with other branches
of archaeology, are somewhat bewildered by the
complexity and technicality with which numismatic
studies are encumbered. It may therefore not be
out of place to devote a few introductory pages to
explaining such technicalities as are unavoidable even
in the most superficial treatment of Greek coins.
We need not here concern ourselves to find an
adequate definition of the thing 'coin,' or to delimit
the province of the study of numismatics. It is suffi-
cient to understand that the coins which we shall
meet with are pieces of metal adjusted to certain
weights, issued with a distinguishing mark by the
-^^
2 INTRODUCTION
authorities of various independent states, to serve
as a medium of exchange. The metals which will
concern us are in the first instance silver, in the
next gold, bronze, and a mixture of gold and
silver known as electrum. The order in which we
have mentioned these metals is practically the order
of their appearance in Sicilian coinage ; but it must
be remembered that, long before the invention of
coins, gold, and in many cases bronze, circulated by
weight as uncoined metal. And so we come to the
second point in our rough definition, and to the
question of weight standards. The brief excursion
into the thorny byways of metrology made in the first
chapter will probably be amply sufficient for the taste
of most readers. It will, however, give an indication,
though slight, of the fact that coin-standards often throw
considerable light on the commercial and political
relations between the different states of antiquity.
But it was not enough that the coins should be of
a certain weight; some guarantee was necessary to
show that the metal was good, and to save the
trouble of weighing each coin whenever it changed
hands. Such a guarantee was afforded by the mark
of the issuing authority. The piece of metal was
given a certain shape and design by one of two
methods. Either it was cast in a mould, which was
of the right size to produce a cast of the required
MATTER AND FORM OF COINS 3
weight, and which imparted to it the desired form
and design ; or else a piece of metal of the right
weight (known as the flan or blank) was first cast,
and then the required designs were impressed
on it in relief by means of metal dies, in which
the designs were engraved in intaglio. The former,
or casting process, was in use in Central Italy
in the earliest period of the coinage, when the
currency consisted of large pieces of cast bronze.
The second process (called 'striking,' although that
word only describes the latter stage of it) was
almost universal throughout the Greek world. Now
this process of first casting the blank or flan, and
then striking it with dies, produces many peculiarities,
according to the different methods adopted in various
parts of the world; and these peculiarities go to
make up what the numismatist calls the ' fabric ' of
the coin.
The form given to the blank by the initial process
of casting was naturally obliterated by the pressure
of the dies; only on the edge of the struck coin
may there be preserved a relic of the original form,
in the shape of a little projection. The mould, in
most early Sicilian coins, was apparently spherical,
and made in two equal halves. The projection was
formed by the metal flowing into the joint between
the two halves of the mould ; on the faces of the
B 2
4 INTRODUCTION
coin it was of course obliterated by the dies, but
on the edge it escaped destruction '. This feature
is more prominent in SiciHan coins than in those
of any other part of the Greek world. The Greeks,
indeed, took little trouble about the shape of their
coins, as long as the weight was right and the
design recognizable. They were excessively care-
less about the process of striking. They used no
collar to hold the mqtal in place and preserve
the circular shape of the coin ; and the pressure of
the dies caused the flans to spread irregularly, and
often to split. The blank or flan was placed — as
a rule, in a heated condition— on the lower die,
which was let into an anvil; the upper die was
held over it, and struck with a hammer. Very often
the coin moved slightly between the first and the
succeeding blows, and the later blows did not efface
all traces of the first impression, so that what are
called double-struck coins were produced. Some-
times the coin is struck to one side, so that a good
part of the design is ' off" the flan.' It is, in fact,
an exception to find the design absolutely complete.
^ If the blank was placed on the anvil in such a position that the
ridge was in a horizontal plane, then the ridge would be preserved
all round the edge of the coin. But this would have produced a
thin ragged edge to the coin ; more usually, therefore, the plane of
the ridge was inclined, or even vertical, so that only two small
projections remained after striking.
FABRIC 5
The dies themselves were probably made of com-
paratively soft metal, and broke and v^ore out easily.
To this fact we owe the enormous variety of repre-
sentations of the same type which is characteristic
of Greek coins.
The lower die, which was let into the anvil, pro-
duced what is called the obverse side of the coin.
The upper die produced the reverse. Down to the
fourth century B.C., the reverse die was made smaller
than the surface of the blank, so that it left an
incuse impression, the edges of the blank rising up
around it. In most parts of the Greek world the
upper die was at first square in shape, so that the
incuse impression was also rectangular. But the
Sicilians, almost from the first, adopted a circular
die, with the result that the ' incuse square ' is hardly
seen on Sicilian coins. One or two early coins,
such as the first issues of Himera, Zancle, Syracuse,
and Selinus, have it. In later times, the upper die was
made so large that it covered the whole surface of
the blank, and the reverse was then only differentiated
from the obverse by a slight concavity of surface.
Numismatists have become accustomed to use the
terms ' obverse ' and ' reverse ' without regard to their
technical significance. Strictly speaking, the head
on such a coin as the Damareteion (PI. II. 6) is on
the reverse^ although it is almost universally spoken
6 INTRODUCTION
of as the obverse type. The reason for this laxity of
expression is that on most later coins the head
(divine or human) stands on the obverse. Since the
head was usually treated in higher relief than the re-
verse type, the strain on the die was correspondingly
greater, and the die with the head was therefore
placed where it would receive the greater support
from the anvil below it and around its edges. Most
numismatists have thus formed a habit, difficult to
discard, of thinking of the side of a coin which
bears the head as necessarily the obverse, unless
the incuse impression is very deep; and in
Sicily it is usually shallow. In this volume, the
technical significance of the terms obverse (anvil-
side) and reverse (upper-side) has been borne in
mind.
The dies produced on the blank what as a whole is
included in the term 'design.' This consisted essen-
tially of a 'type,' which could be accompanied by
symbols and by an inscription ; and the whole could
be enclosed in a border. The whole space enclosed
in the border, or, when there is no border, the surface
of the coin, is, so far as it is not occupied by the type,
regarded as the 'field'; but from the field itself
a subsidiary portion, the segment of the circle below
the type, is sometimes cut off" by a line ; this segment
is known as the ' exergue.'
I ■
DESIGN AND TYPE 7
As regards the type, it is unnecessary here to
embark on a classification, or to discuss the primary
reasons which inspired the selection by a particular
city of a particular type; to ask whether the type
was selected because it was the badge of the city, or
the emblem of the chief deity, or the representation
of a commodity, a certain amount of which was equal
in value to the coin. Different answers would have
to be returned in the case of different cities. The
one point which we have to grasp is that, even where
the origin of the types may have been commercial,
these types yet became, in the time with which we
are concerned, connected with the religious cults of
the state. To the ordinary person, who knew nothing
and cared less about origins, the types had then
nothing but a religious significance. Now, to the
historian, the light in which a people regard a fact
is of more importance, in discovering the springs of
action, than the scientific truth about that fact; and
for the student of numismatics who works from the
standpoint of history, art, or religion, it is more
essential to know that the Naxians regarded the
bunch of grapes as a symbol of the wine-god, than to
know, or assume, that the coin originally represented
the value of a certain quantity of wine indicated in
some way by the bunch of grapes. This may be"
admitted without in any way depreciating the value
8 INTRODUCTION
of the study of the origins of primitive coin-types, as
apart from their significance in the period with which
we are concerned.
The field of the coin, and the exergue, some-
times contain what in the language of numismatists
are known as ' symbols \' These minor elements of
the design fulfil various purposes. They must in
the first place be distinguished from the adjuncts
which are directly related to the type, such as
the panther which accompanies a Dionysus, or
the eagle in the hand of Zeus. Such adjuncts are
distinguished from the true symbol, in the numism-
atic sense, by the fact that the person or thing of
which they are the attributes is represented as the
type in the same design ; whereas the true numism-
atic symbol belongs not to the main type, but to
something not otherwise represented. It may be the
sign of the monetary magistrate who issued the coin,
or of the ruler of the state — as I have tried to show in
the case of the triskeles in the coinage of Agathocles ;
^ The word ' symbol ' will of course be found used in numismatic
literature in a wider sense also ; the caduceus used as a type by
itself, for instance, may be explained as the ^symbol' of Hermes.
But no mystic meaning is supposed to be inherent in such
'symbols.' Some of them may have been worshipped in the place
of the gods they represent, as the thunderbolt certainly was. But,
in thus describing them, the numismatist merely means that these
objects are figured with the aim of caUing up to the mind the
deity, local or other, with whom they are locally associated.
SYMBOLS AND INSCRIPTIONS 9
or it may represent some historical event, as possibly
does the pistrix on the coins of Hiero. Sometimes,
however, it is so drawn into connexion with the main
type that it loses its separate symbolism and becomes
an essential part of the main design ; thus the panoply
on the ^ medallions ' of Syracuse gives significance to
the otherwise commonplace type of the victorious
chariot and four.
The study of coin-inscriptions is an important de-
partment of numismatics. The forms of the letters,
the use of this or the other alphabet, may be of the
utmost value in determining the date of a coin.
These are questions which we shall have, for the
most part, to ignore, as leading us into the obscurest
corners of the subject. It is necessary, however, to
warn the uninitiated that the alphabet and ortho-
graphy which they find on early coins are not those
made familiar by modern texts. Down to the last
years of the fifth century E may be used for e, h,
and ei, and O for 0, co and ou, although the long
vowel signs H and A begin to make their way into
the alphabet, sometimes with curious results, some
twenty or thirty years earlier. In the meaning of the
inscriptions there is great variety. They may consist
of the 'ethnic' adjective, used either in agreement
with a suppressed word for 'coin,' as FEAAION
(jeTpabpaxMov) i. e. ' Geloan tetradrachm ' ; or in the
lo INTRODUCTION
genitive plural, to show that the coin belongs to the
people or the ruler who issued it, as ^YPAKO^IAN
'coin of the Syracusans/ or lEPANO^ 'coin of
Hiero/ In the period before the introduction of the
long vowel signs, it is often difficult to decide in which
of the two cases the word is meant to be understood.
Again, we may have the name of the city, 1<ATANE ;
or of the city personified, as IMEPA; or of some
deity closely connected with the city, as the river-god
TEAA^. Deities such as lEY^ EAAANIO^ 'Zeus
Hellanios' or Nll<A 'Victory' may be named; and
when, as with KOPA^ 'of the Maiden Goddess,'
the name is put in the genitive, the coinage is, so to
speak, consecrated to and regarded as the property
of the deity. To find an inscription giving the object
of issue is comparatively rare m Greek coins ; the
^YMMAXIKON 'alliance coin' of the fourth century
is hardly an instance in point. Marks of value, such
as PEN for ' pentalitron ' (piece of five litrae), are also
not too common, denominations being generally
expressed by other means.
In a somewhat sketchy way I have now indicated
the main aspects in which an ancient coin can be con-
sidered; it is to be hoped that the succeeding pages
will make these outlines more definite. It is obvious
that the kind of evidence afforded by coins is extra-
ordinarily varied.
HISTORICAL VALUE OF COINS ii
Not only is it true that here
In one short view, subjected to our eye,
Gods, emp*rors, heroes, sages, beauties lie ;
but the peculiar value of coins lies in their being
at once works of art and official productions of
the state. The Sicilians, at least, had the good
sense to employ the best available artists at their
mints, so that the collocation which sounds absurd
to a modern Englishman, with his experience
of recent issues of the Royal Mint, was to them
only obvious. For the historian of art the study
of coins is as a guide always at his elbow. These
objects — owing to the many aspects from which they
can be considered — are more easily dated than any
other kind of antiquities. The large series in which
they exist enable us to mark with great exactitude the
lines along which art developed. For two or three
imperfectly preserved works of great sculpture we
have hundreds of coins in almost perfect condition.
•
The great sculpture represents the grander summits
of the achievement of an age ; but the coins show the
general level of art, out of which these summits arose,
and without which they could not have arisen. And
then the question of authenticity ! The contempt
with which each connoisseur of ancient engraved
gems speaks of every other's power of distinguishing
between true and false is as disheartening as the
12 INTRODUCTION
controversies which take place over pieces of gold-
smithery. Every one will admit that there are many
coins of which the authenticity is disputed, and no
numismatist can boast of never having been deceived;
but about the vast majority of coins in our great
collections there lingers no breath of suspicion. Here
then we have a vast and varied mass of authentic
evidence ; contemporary with the history with which
we have to bring it into relation ; unspoiled by the
redaction of historiographers or pamphleteers ; repre-
senting the authorities of the state which issued it,
and yet reflecting also the individuality of the best
artist whom that state could find to employ ; filling
the gaps in the story of the development of the greater
arts, where otherwise we should be reduced to
wondering at an odd torso, a few metopes from
a temple, or a Roman copy in marble of a Greek
bronze ; telling us what cults were most prevalent, in
what cities, and at what times ; and giving withal a
more vivid picture of the commercial relations of these
cities than any ancient historian could have produced,
had he felt the inclination to attempt such a task.
The coins of later ages have some of these quahties,
but they can be supplemented by other documents of
equal veracity. In Greece the coins often provide
more than mere footnotes to history. And of all parts
of the Greek world, this is most true of Sicily, where
PRIMITIVE SICILY 13
the extraordinary, almost feverish individual develop-
ment of the independent cities is brilliantly reflected
in the constant changes of their currency.
The history of Sicily begins for us with the founda-
tion of the Greek colonies. Some of the earliest pre-
Hellenic burial-grounds show traces (probably not
all imported) of a culture which is allied to the
'Mycenaean/ The most primitive stratum in the
population of the island was probably the race repre-
sented in historic times by the Elymians of Segesta,
Eryx, Entella, and Halicyae. We need not speculate
on their nationality. Crowded into the western
corner, they preserved their ancient tongue ; but all
that remains of it to us is contained in the inscrip-
tions on their coins. Next in point of antiquity
come the Sicans and Sicels. The former, said Greek
tradition, were Iberians; but we may incline to the
modern conjecture that the Sicans, who occupied
the western half of the island, formed the vanguard
of the Italic immigration to which the Sicels cer-
tainly belonged. Their towns were of little impor-
tance ; the Sicel towns, on the other hand, are too
many to enumerate. To the east of a line drawn
southwards from Cephaloedium (Cefalu), all the old
towns where Greek colonies were not founded,
such as Agyrium, Centuripae, Henna (the 'navel of
14 INTRODUCTION
Sicily'), kept their Sicel population down to a late
date. They cannot have become thoroughly Hel-
lenized until such time as the Hellenic name itself
became merged in the Roman. But foreign elements
were easily absorbed by Sicel civilization ; the legend
of the Rape of Persephone in the fields of Henna
cannot have been of Sicel origin ; and even the fire-
god Hadranus seems to have been an immigrant.
Thucydides tells us that the Greek colonists found
the Phoenicians already in occupation of Sicily.
Eastern Sicily, however, is singularly barren of
traces of Phoenician occupation. How is it that no
emporium was founded where the city of Zancle
afterwards arose, on the straits of Messina, command-
ing as it would have done the route to western Italy
and southern Gaul; and how is it that Phoenician
objects are absent from pre-Hellenic Sicel ceme-
teries ? Probably because the Phoenicians preceded
the Greeks in Sicily by very little, if at all. As the
Phoenicians worked round by the African coast and
the Maltese islands, they naturally colonized the
West and North- West; while the Greeks, skirting
the southern end of Italy, which they had reached
from the nearest point of Greece, seized first on the
eastern and north-eastern coasts. Melita (Malta) ^
Gaulos {Gozd), and Cossura {Pantellarm) retained
the Punic character long after it had faded from the
OF
THE FIRST COLONIES 15
Punic foundations on the main island : — Panormus
(Palermo), Solus (Solunto), and Motya, which in the
fourth century was superseded by Lilyhcieum (Marsala).
About 735 the Greek colonizing expeditions began
with the foundation of Naxos, the chief element in
which was drawn from Chalcis in Euboea, although
there must also have been a considerable contingent
from the Aegean island of Naxos. From Naxos
arose Leontini and Catana; while men of Chalcis
and other Euboean cities founded Zancle, on a spot
the importance of which had already been seen by
freebooters from Cyme on the Italian coast. Zancle
itself, about the middle of the seventh century,
founded Himera. But another great trading people,
the Corinthians, had followed hard on the Chal-
cidians. In the year after the settling of Naxos there
happened a much more important event : the colony
of Syracuse was established on the island of Ortygia.
Besides some outposts (Acrae, Casmenae) in the
interior, Syracuse founded Camarina on the southern
coast in the first years of the sixth century. Yet
again, in the last quarter of the eighth century,
Megara, the neighbour of Corinth, founded a city
in Sicily; but Hyblaean Megara was too close to
Syracuse to flourish. About a century after its
foundation it sent forth a band who occupied the
most western of Greek sites in the island, at Selinus
i6 INTRODUCTION
{Selinunte)j ^the place of wild celery.' One more
Dorian city sent out a colony ; early in the seventh
century men from Rhodes, with some Cretans,
founded Gela; and from Gela, about 580, Acragas
(Girgenti) took its foundation. This was the last of
the great colonies to be set up in the island; but
just at this time, or a little later, a band of Rhodians
and Cnidians, after a vain attempt to settle where
Lilybaeum afterwards arose, contented themselves
with a home on the Lipari islands.
The records of Sicily in the sixth century, naturally
scanty, tell us of the tyrants of which the city-state
in this island, as elsewhere in the Greek world, pro-
duced a plentiful crop. The earliest of any impor-
tance was the notorious Phalaris, who ruled Acragas
in the first half of the century. We hear also of the
destruction of Camarina in a war with Syracuse
about 550 ; and of a fruitless attempt by the Spartan
prince Dorieus to establish a colony in the heart oi
Phoenician territory (about 510). The great period
of the tyrannis dates from the beginning of the fifth
century. Of Anaxilas the coins will tell us much.
Hippocrates of Gela brought under his sway not
only native tribes but Greek colonies ; Camarina he
wrested from Syracuse by a great victory on the
Helorus. At his death (491) his power passed to
one of his officers, Gelo, son of Dinomenes. This
GELO OF SYRACUSE 17
shrewd captain found his opportunity in Syracuse,
where the disaster on the Helorus had made the
old landed aristocracy, the Gamori, an easy prey to
the popular party (about 485). Amid the ensuing
anarchy, Gelo established himself in Syracuse, and,
drawing new citizens from Gela, Camarina, Megara,
and the Chalcidian colony of Euboea, made Syracuse
once and for all the greatest of Sicilian cities. States-
man as well as general, he allied his house by
marriage with Thero, the ruler of Acragas. and
Himera.
Coincident with the climax of the Persian War
came the first serious clash between Greeks and
Phoenicians. It had been threatening ever since
Phoenicians and Etruscans had combined to oust
the Greeks from Alalia, their colony in Corsica.
Instigated by Terillus, the fugitive ruler of Himera,
and supported by Anaxilas of Rhegium and Zancle,
the Carthaginians poured a great army under
Hamilcar into Sicily by the port of Panormus. The
contest was short and sharp ; Gelo and Thero inflicted
an absolutely crushing defeat on the Punic general,
who was besieging Himera (480). Syracuse and its
leader were without question supreme in Sicilian
politics.
The best of the haiTcst sown by Gelo was reaped
by his brother Hiero, who succeeded him in 478.
i8 INTRODUCTION
The court graced by Aeschylus, Pindar, Simonides,
BacchyHdes, Epicharmus, was the most brilliant in
the world. But Hiero was great in war also, and
broke the sea-power of Etruria in the battle of Cyme
(474). Now Syracuse counted no rival among the
Greek states of the West. Nevertheless the aggres-
sively military form of Hiero's power made his rule
unpopular, although its foundation lay in Hellenic
unity against the barbarian. The fall of the tyrannis
in Acragas and Himera (about 472) was a presage of
the revolution which broke out in Syracuse at the
death of Hiero (466), and ended in 465 in the fall
of his brother and successor Thrasybulus. This
again was the signal for a general revolution and
the setting up of democracies all over the island.
By 461 there was ^ liberty ' throughout Greek Sicily.
But at the same time there was an uprising of the
native Sicels. Acting at first as an ally of the Syra-
cusan democrats, the Sicel chief Ducetius organized
a national movement, took one Greek stronghold
after another, even set up a capital, Palice, and was
only checked by the Syracusans, whose victory
(about 450) extinguished the hopes of a Sicel king-
dom. Syracuse had now once more saved the Greek
cities. Unable to brook that loss of her supremacy
which had of necessity followed on the breaking
down of the tyranny, she fell into strife with her
ATHENS AND SICILY 19
rival Acragas. A battle on the river Himeras settled
the question in her favour (about 446).
It is about this time that we perceive the first indi-
cations of serious intervention by Athens in Sicilian
affairs. It begins with the establishment of friendly
relations with the two Elymian cities of Segesta and
Halicyae. In 433 Leontini signed a treaty with
Athens. It was the importance of Corcyra for
Athenian relations with the West that precipitated
the Peloponnesian War with all its fateful conse-
quences. In 427 a war was raging between Syracuse
(supported by Gela, Selinus, Himera, Lipara, and
Messana) on the one side, and on the other Catana,
Leontini, Naxos, Camarina, aided from Italy by
Rhegium, and at home by the Sicels. Athens
dispatched a squadron to help the anti-Syracusan
party. But the intervention, supported though it was
two years later by a fresh fleet, did little but draw
the Siceliotes together through suspicion of Athenian
disinterestedness; so that peace was signed in 424.
But when the Athenian ally Leontini fell into the
power of Syracuse, and when in 416 war broke out
between Segesta and Selinus, Athens was bound to
make her hand felt. The expedition, as every one
knows, ended tragically for the Athenian Empire in
the slaughter on the Assinarus (413). Syracuse
owed it chiefly to her great citizen Hermocrates that
c 2
20 INTRODUCTION
she now stood higher than ever, high enough to
intervene in the war in the Aegean. But the Athe-
nian disaster had an unexpected result. The remnant
of Athenian alHes, w^ho held out in Segesta and
Eryx, in their distress appealed to Carthage. The
Punic interests in western Sicily were threatened by
the growing power of Selinus : hence the great in-
vasion under Hannibal in 409. Selinus fell speedily,
amid horrible slaughter; Himera too was destroyed
for ever. A second expedition in 406 came against
Acragas, which a Greek army of 30,000 men failed
to save.
In faction-torn Syracuse, these failures against
the barbarians were the opportunity of Dionysius,
a brilliant officer of the party of Hermocrates. He
became sole general in 405 ; but his new-born power
was all but shattered by his failure to do more than
bring off the inhabitants of Gela and Camarina. This
danger suppressed, he found the Punic general,
whose army was decimated by sickness, ready to
make terms. Dionysius himself was to be ruler of
Syracuse ; Catana, Leontini, and other Greek cities,
also the Sicels, were to be independent; and the
Carthaginians were to retain their conquests. Hardly
had he made peace, when a second internal revolt
reduced him to extremities. His adroitness saved
him, and he provided against the recrudescence of
DIONYSIUS THE ELDER 21
such troubles by establishing a pseudo-constitutional
government. Council and General Assembly had
the right to declare war and levy direct taxes on the
property of citizens ; but we cannot doubt that the
man who controlled the army and navy, appointed
the officers, and held in his hands all the threads of
the executive, must have controlled also the Council
and General Assembly. Safely established in Syra-
cuse, Dionysius proceeded to consolidate his power
in eastern Sicily, allying himself with his neighbours
where he could not destroy them. The whole of
Syracuse from the isthmus outwards was his castle ;
the new fortifications on Epipolae made the city one
of the strongest in the world. The Carthaginian
War, the ultimate object of such preparations, began
in 397. The first Greek successes were speedily
wiped out by Himilco, and in 396 Dionysius was shut
up in Syracuse. His walls, the pestilent marshes
of the Anapus, and the ready help afforded from
Greeks outside Sicily, saved him, and the war ended
in a fearful disaster to the Carthaginian arms.
Dionysius was at first free to do what he pleased
with all but a small part of the island ; he was the
'ruler of Sicily.' Nevertheless he was soon dis-
turbed by a Sicel rebellion, supported by Rhegium,
and involving the revolt of Acragas, together with
a renewed Carthaginian invasion. Peace was signed
22 INTRODUCTION
once more in 392, and he now turned his attention
to the Itahot Greeks. By 387 he found himself
master of all that he desired in southern Italy. He
founded colonies to promote trade in the Adriatic,
and inflicted a heavy blow on the Etruscan power in
the Tyrrhenian Sea. But not content so long as
a Semite remained on Sicilian soil, he turned once
more against his old enemy. Again at first suc-
cessful on the field of Cabala, he was eventually
defeated at the Cronium. Both sides suffered heavily.
Dionysius surrendered all that he had held west of
the Halycus, but the Italiots who had joined Car-
thage were delivered into his hand. He seems to
have restored order in Italy to his own liking. In
the next few years (372-367) we find him playing
a great part in Greek politics, as a friend not only
of Sparta, but of Athens, which had the satisfaction
of passing a decree in his honour (368), making a
formal alliance with him (367), and — awarding him the
first prize for a tragedy ! His reign ended as it had
begun with an unsuccessful Carthaginian war. He
failed to take Lilybaeum, and was forced to make
peace. He had failed to dislodge his enemy from
Sicily, but he had made it impossible that they
should dislodge the Greeks. That the Greek rivals
of Syracuse were extinguished or absorbed in her is,
beside this fact, a small matter.
DIONYSIUS II AND DION 23
Dionysius was succeeded (367) by his son of the
same name, an easy-going and incapable ruler. The
weakness of the young tyrant was turned to ad-
vantage by Dion, the son of Hipparinus. Dion's
sister, Aristomache, had been the second wife of
Dionysius the elder, and Dion himself married Arete,
the issue of that union. His intrigues against the
throne were at first checked by exile; but in his
retirement he enlisted the sympathies of the haters
of tyranny (Plato among them), and was able to raise
a force with which in 357 he landed at Heraclea.
Here, as the enemy of the Syracusan tyrant, he was
well received by the Punic governor. The siege
of Syracuse which ensued was prolonged by the
jealousy entertained of Dion by many of his sup-
porters ; and these friends of reform were justified
by the performances of their general when he was
established in Syracuse. He was murdered in 353,
and amid the wretched faction-struggles which foU
lowed Dionysius recovered his power (346). Tyrants
sprang up once more in all the Greek cities, now
independent of Syracuse; the Carthaginians swept
into their net the cities of the southern coast.
In Leontini, under the tyrant Hicetas, some of
Dion's party were sheltered, and at their request
Corinth again came to the rescue. Timoleon, one
of the noblest, most disinterested statesmen in
24 INTRODUCTION
history, landed with a small force in 345. But Hicetas,
who had succeeded in shutting up Dionysius in
Ortygia, would none of him, and preferred a Cartha-
ginian alliance. Timoleon, however, defeated Hicetas
at Hadranum, and was joined by many waverers,
including Dionysius. He was thus enabled to occupy
Ortygia, which was invested by land and sea ; but
Greek and Carthaginian worked ill together, and
eventually withdrawing left Syracuse to the liberator,
who razed the fortress to the ground. He could
now face the Carthaginians as leader of the united
Greeks; for even Hicetas was reconciled to him.
He advanced to the West and defeated the enemy
with fearful slaughter on the Crimisus (about 340).
The tyrants, feeling that their own turn was to
come, now revolted. But Timoleon, being free from
fear of Carthage, who renounced all territory east
of the Halycus, put down one tyrant after another,
sparing only Andromachus of Tauromenium, who
had never swerved in his fidelity to the liberator's
cause. In Syracuse, and probably in other cities,
a moderate democracy was established. The
citizenship of Syracuse was strengthened by con-
tingents from Greece and from other Sicilian cities,
that it might be the centre of the Siceliote federation.
Other places, which had long lain waste, were re-
stored. Peace and prosperity revived the small
TIMOLEON AND AGATHOCLES 25
towns in the interior. Dionysius' task of unifying
the Sicels and SiceHotes against the Phoenician in-
truder was carried one stage further, and Timoleon,
after eight years of unremitting labour, laid down
his power, to spend the rest of his days, blind but
honoured, as a private citizen of the state to which
he had given peace.
But the spirit of faction was too strong for even
Timoleon's work to last. The council of six hundred
was controlled by the oligarchic party; the opposi-
tion was chiefly led by the adventurer Agathocles.
In the exile to which his enemies condemned him,
he fought and intrigued against them, and at last
succeeded in returning to Syracuse as general, with
a commission to restore order. This he effected
by the judicial massacre of the representatives of
oligarchy. The grateful people elected him sole
general (317-316); and he now ruled all eastern
Sicily except Messana, Gela, and Acragas. These
three cities, supported by a Spartan general and by
Tarentum, attempted to crush him; all they gained
was the recognition of the autonomy of the Greek
cities under the hegemony of Syracuse (313). So
far the Carthaginian governor Hamilcar had been
Agathocles' good friend ; but under his successor
war broke out (312-311). Agathocles had just suc-
ceeded in subjugating Messana ; but before Acragas
26 INTRODUCTION
he failed, and any successes he achieved were can-
celled by his defeat at Ecnomus (310). His allies fell
away, and he was shut up in Syracuse. It was now
that he conceived the audacious plan of carrying war
into the enemy's country. Slipping out of Syracuse,
he was chased all the way to Africa (310), but landed
safely and inflicted a defeat on the Punic generals.
With his head quarters at Tunis, he reduced a great
part of the enemy's territory, winning victory after
victory. But all this had little effect on his affairs
at home. Hamilcar, it is true, was captured in an
attack on Syracuse, and the land-siege was raised ;
but the blockade was maintained by sea. Acragas
organized a new and independent Siceliote league,
to deliver the land at once from Carthage and from
tyranny — plans which were wrecked by a Syracusan
victory in 307. Meanwhile Agathocles continued to
carry all before him in Africa. In 308 he had been
joined by Ophelas, ruler of Cyrenaica, with a great
army. We do no injustice to the most treacherous
of Syracusan tyrants in supposing that the murder
of Ophelas was premeditated ; Agathocles needed the
reinforcements, but an Ophelas as ruler of Carthage
would be more dangerous than Carthage as she was.
The increase in Agathocles' forces caused an abortive
attempt at revolution by the Carthaginian peace-
party. We are led to believe that Agathocles went
AGATHOCLES 27
on conquering territory; but his extraordinary ad-
versary possessed an inexhaustible power of raising
armies, and Agathocles began to feel that he was
needed at home. Landing at Sehnus just after the
defeat of the Acragantines, he captured a few cities,
and raised the blockade of Syracuse. But the
Syracusan exiles under Dinocrates were too strong
for him in the field. In Africa, meanwhile, Aga-
thocles' son Archagathus was reduced to extremi-
ties; the tyrant hurried over to find him besieged
in Tunis, the army demoralized, the allies melted
away. Sacrificing his ambitions he escaped to Sicily
(307). His deserted army thereupon killed his sons
and made terms with Carthage.
In Sicily, where the exiles under Dinocrates were
enormously strong, Agathocles was forced to make
an agreement with Carthage; then, freed from his
fears on this side, he was able to defeat Dinocrates
(305). The leader of the exiles joined him ; seven
thousand men, who had made terms, were butchered;
and all Greek Sicily outside the Carthaginian border
recognized ^ king ' Agathocles as head of the Siceliote
confederation. Peace prevailed in the island until
the tyrant's death in 289. He was thus free to act
in southern Italy and in Corcyra, which he did with
so much success that his daughter Lanassa had
the island for her dowry when she was married
28 INTRODUCTION
to Pyrrhus^ king of Epirus, in 295. While planning
once more to attack the Carthaginians, Agathocles
was struck down by his last illness. Strife between
his son and designated successor Agathocles and
his grandson Archagathus made his last days miser-
able. The son Agathocles was murdered, and the
father died, leaving Syracuse with Archagathus and
his army outside the walls. Archagathus himself
was murdered by a supporter, Meno of Egesta.
This man, the Syracusan exiles, and the Cartha-
ginians were now all gathered round the unhappy
city. The Syracusans under Hicetas were forced
to make terms, but were fortunate enough to get rid
of the Agathoclean mercenaries. Promising to leave
the island, these barbarians were unable to resist
the temptations of Messana, which thus (about 288)
became the city of the ^children of Mamers.' Amid
the general disorder, the usual crop of tyrants sprang
up. Notably, Phintias of Acragas rose to a position
to which that of Hicetas in Syracuse was secondary.
The Mamertines ranged over the island, plundering
and destroying ; even Gela and Camarina fell before
them. The Carthaginians too had their own way,
and probably about this time they occupied the
Liparaean islands. About 280 came a reaction
against this anarchy. Phintias was replaced by
another tyrant; Syracuse became free. There was
PYRRHUS IN SICILY 29
a general agreement, even on the part of many of
the tyrants {279), to ask King Pyrrhus to dehver the
island from the Carthaginian and the Mamertine.
In spite of his war with Rome, in spite too of the
strenuous efforts of Carthaginian diplomacy, the ad-
venturous Epirote landed at Tauromenium in 278.
Recognized as leader of the Siceliotes, he inflicted
serious defeats on the Mamertines, and took all the
Carthaginian strongholds except Lilybaeum. Against
this rock his strength was shattered. His popularity
waned, his mildness turned to harsh autocracy. A
general revolt broke out, and the Carthaginians re-
gained what they had lost. Meanwhile Rome was
achieving no small success in Italy, and in 275, after
inflicting a parting blow on Carthage, Pyrrhus sailed
away. As he failed in Sicily against Carthage, so
he failed in Italy against Rome. The two powers of
the West were to fight out their struggle for them-
selves.
Pyrrhus left the Mamertines no weaker than he
found them, and their bitter struggle with Syracuse
continued. Carthage, content with the recovery of
her old possessions, gave little trouble. In Syracuse
itself, Hiero, the son of Hierocles, was set up by
the army as its leader (274), and by his good
quahties won over the citizens to his side. He
confined the Mamertines to the neighbourhood of
30 INTRODUCTION
Messana, and finally inflicted on them a crushing-
defeat. Carthage intervened to save them from the
extreme consequences of this disaster, and placed
a garrison in their citadel. Hiero's success won
him the title of King of the Siceliotes (269).
In their desperate plight the Mamertines sought an
alliance with Rome, not without success (265-264).
The Carthaginian commandant was frightened from
his post, and Carthage and Hiero joined hands to
prevent active intervention on the part of Rome.
But the Roman consul landed (264) ; and his suc-
cesses first roused Hiero's suspicions of Punic faith,
and then brought him definitely over to the Roman
side (263). With his invaluable help the Romans
made good their footing in many places, even in
far Eryx and Halicyae ; but they had many enemies,
who preferred the old adversary to the new. Acragas
fell before the Roman arms after a seven months'
siege, was re-taken, and eventually destroyed. In
261 the Romans won the great sea-fight off" Mylae ;
and when in 258 they took Camarina, they already
possessed the greater part of the interior. Above
all, the fall of Panormus in 254 secured to them
the north coast ; Thermae and Lipara were captured
in 252. A long struggle continued to the end of
the war round Eryx and its harbour Drepanum.
Metellus' great victory over the elephants near
THE PUNIC W^^^a_-4^ 31
Panormus (250) compelled the enemy to evacuate
Selinus and Heraclea Minoa. Little remained to
Carthage now but Lilybaeum, part of Eryx, and
Drepanum. The Romans, in spite of the exploits
of Hamilcar Barca, stood stubbornly to the siege
of Lilybaeum, until the war was ended by the sea-
fight of Aegusa. Sicily was left to the Romans
and Hiero (241). The head quarters of the Roman
government were fixed at Lilybaeum ; Messana was
regarded as an allied city, and exempt from the rule
of the praetors; Panormus, Centuripae, Halaesa,
Egesta, and Halicyae, all of which, save the first
and second, had joined Rome voluntarily, were made
free and immune from taxation. Tribute, in the form
of tithes, was paid to Rome by all the other states
except Syracuse, which, with its territory, remained
autonomous. The reward of Hiero's prudent states-
manship was that his realm enjoyed a comparatively
long period of peace, and that his coffers were filled
to overflowing. His taxes were heavy; but the land
was very rich. The latter half of his reign is the
happiest period in the history of ancient Sicily.
But the outbreak of the Second Punic War marred
its close. True to his alliance, Hiero assisted the
Romans, and kept down the rebellious tendencies
which showed themselves in Sicily.
Towards the end of his reign he had associated his
32 INTRODUCTION
son Gelo with himself in the kingship. Unfortunately
Gelo died before his father, and thus in 215 the power
descended to Gelo's eldest son, Hieronymus, a
typical tyrant's child, who speedily made an out-
ward display of the despotism which Hiero had
concealed. Thanks to the most influential of his
advisers, Hadranodorus, the key-stone of Hiero's
policy, the Roman alliance, was soon displaced.
The Punic agents, Hippocrates and his brother
Epicydes, prevailed; and in 214 the Sicilian war
began. Hieronymus himself was murdered at the
outset. The vacillations of Syracusan policy during
the next few months were extraordinary. The
Hannibalian agents, however, eventually succeeded
in definitely committing the majority of the Syra-
cusans to the Punic side; and the Roman general
Marcellus began the siege. Its length was due to
the careful fortifications completed by Hiero, and
to the mechanical genius of Archimedes, whose
engines played with the enemy as with toys. The
Punic army and fleet were active against Marcellus ;
the whole of the interior was in more or less open
revolt. Many that had wavered were driven into
the arms of Carthage by the massacre of the citizens
of Henna, whom the Romans suspected of an in-
clination to desert (213). But the Roman fleet com-
manded the north coast, and at last the besieging
FALL OF SYRACUSE 33
army established itself on Epipolae. The fort of
Euryalus was cut off and capitulated. On the
heights of Epipolae the Roman army escaped the
worst of the malaria which thinned the ranks of
Carthaginians and Siceliotes; and the Carthaginian
fleet failed to relieve the city. Negotiations were
begun, but dragged on, owing to the conflicting
interests within the city ; so that Marcellus welcomed
the treachery of an officer which admitted his troops
into Ortygia. To the sack which ensued the present
poverty of Syracuse in works of art is largely due.
The Siceliotes did not come in as soon as might
have been expected ; Marcellus' conditions were too
hard, and the Carthaginians, thanks chiefly to the
brilliant exploits of Myttones, offered considerable
resistance. Marceflus, however, won a striking
victory on the Himeras (211), before leaving the
war to be concluded by Laevinus. Myttones, whom
his jealous colleague Hanno treated with indignity,
betrayed Acragas to the Roman general, and with
that the war was over (210). Sicily was now finally
organized as a province; Syracuse, of course, be-
came the chief seat of government. The restoration
of peace brought about the revival of agriculture,
just when the war in Italy was raising prices in
Rome to famine figures.
The chief events in Sicilian history of the second
D
34 INTRODUCTION
century were an outcome of the economic conditions
of the time. The high development of the plantation-
system brought about a desperate slave -revolt in
134. For three years the daring leaders of the
slaves harried the island, in spite of the best armies
that Rome could send against them. A second war,
with almost precisely similar features, broke out in
104 and lasted for five years.
Under Roman administration, Sicily, like other
provinces under the Republic, suffered from the
extortions of the government officials, and has fur-
nished us with the most notorious example of the
kind: -Gains Verres (propraetor from 73-70), who
has been immortalized by Cicero.
In the civil wars of the end of the Republic,
Sicily played a passive part. It was occupied with-
out a blow by Caesar's lieutenant, Gains Curio, Cato
prudently withdrawing to Africa. It was Caesar's
naval base during the war in Africa (47). It was
occupied again by Sextus Pompeius from 43 to 36;
and Rome felt grievously the lack of Sicilian corn.
Eventually, Agrippa's victory off Naulochus placed
the island in Octavian's hands.
Under the new regime, introduced by Juhus
Caesar and developed by Marcus Antonius, all the
Sicilian communities received either the Roman or
the Latin franchise. Augustus planted several colonies :
THE ROMAN PROVINCE 35 - 1
Tauromenium had already received a colony, pro- ^
bably in 36; in 21 he founded Syracuse, Catina, j
Tyndaris, Thermae, Panormus. But although the
land enjoyed a measure of material prosperity under \
the Empire, it ceased to possess any importance from j
a historical point of view, until the beginning of the ]
Middle Ages. J
D 2
\\
7
CHAPTER I
THE EARLIEST COINAGE
BEFORE 480 B. C.
At the time of the introduction of coinage into
Sicily the great period of Greek colonization in the
western Mediterranean had all but come to a close,
and along the Sicilian shores the early outposts of
Greek trade had developed into flourishing cities.
Only in the extreme western corner, along the western
portion of the north coast, and in the rough interior,
did the Phoenician merchant settlers and the descen-
dants of the earliest inhabitants, Elymians, Sicans
and Sicels, hold their own. The last important Greek
foundation in the island was Acragas (Agrigentum),
settled from the neighbouring Gela about 580 b. c.
It is just possible that some of the earliest SiciHan
coins may belong to the closing years of the seventh
century; but with this reservation we must think of
the Siceliote Greeks before 600 b.c. as conducting
their trade partly with uncoined metal in the shape of
bars, spits, or rings, and partly, doubtless, with coins
EARLIEST COINAGE. ZANCLE 37
brought from their homeland of Greece, where the
early coinage was now in full vigour. Athenian tetra-
drachms, for instance, both of the earliest and of the
later style, are frequently found in Sicily. Much of
the trade from Greece passed westward through the
Sicilian straits, and up the Italian coast to Cyme
(Cumae), a colony founded (probably in the last third c)}
of the eighth century) by the people ot Cyme in
Euboea. Trade-ships coming from Euboea would
find welcome at Naxos, Catana, Leontini, and
Zancle; and on rounding the Cape Pelorus and
sailing along the north coast, they would be greeted
by the Greeks of Himera, lonely upholders of
Greek civilization among barbarous Sicels and
Phoenicians.
Three of this important group of five cities produced
the first coins ever struck in Sicily. They are of
silver (the only metal which was coined in the island
until late in the fifth century), and rude enough, but
excessively interesting, particularly those of Zancle.
This port, afterwards called Messana, with its sickle-
shaped harbour, took its name from the native word
for sickle— danklon. And accordingly onjhe earliest
coins (PI. I. i), which are inscribed DANI<UE, 'we see
figured, by a kind of symbolism not uncommon on
Greek coins, a dolphin (emblem of the sea-god and ,«
the sea-waves) lying within a curved object evidently
1
r
>vV^
38 THE EARLIEST COINAGE
meant to represent the shape of the harbour. This is
the type of the obverse; the reverse of the earliest coins
shows merely the same type incuse. At first sight
unremarkable, this last fact attains historical import-
ance when we remember that the only Greek coins
that represent incuse on the reverse (the type which
is given in relief on the obverse) belong to a federal
coinage issued by certain cities in southern Italy,
under some sort of commercial agreement. It follows
therefore that the Chalcidian Zancle, the nearest to
Italy of Sicilian cities, was obliged in some degree
to come into line with Rhegium and the powerful
Achaean colonies, Croton, Metapontum, and others.
These incuse coins of Zancle were soon, however,
replaced by a more ordinary sort (Fig. i), which have
Fig. I. Zancle: Drachm.
for reverse type a small scallop-shell. On some of
them (PI. I. 2) the sickle-shaped object on the obverse
is broad, and adorned at intervals with projections.
That these are meant to represent towers or buildings
on the edge of the harbour, as Mr. Arthur Evans has
suggested, we may hesitate to admit; but no better
ZANCLE. NAXOS. HIMERA 39
explanation has been given. The compHcated
arrangement of spaces on the reverse of the coins
is probably without special significance; the end of
the die with which the reverse was struck was cut up
in order to give it a firmer grip on the blank, and this
disposition of areas served the same purpose as the
'mill-sair incuse square, which we shall meet with
presently.
The earliest types of Naxos (PI. I. 3) are connected
with the wine-god Dionysus, whose worship, while
naturally important in this vine-producing district,
was probably in the first instance brought from
the Aegean island of Naxos (where coins with the
wine-cup type prove that it flourished). We find
on the coins of the Sicilian port an exceedingly
archaic head of Dionysus with pointed beard,
wreathed with the Dionysiac ivy. On the reverse
is the inscription N AX I ON, and a vine-twig with
a bunch of grapes.
Finally, Himera (PL I. 4) has a type — the cock
— which by a not very satisfactory conjecture is
usually explained as a pun on the name of the place,
the cock being the bird that ushers in the day
{hemera). Since the healing baths near Himera
were famous, it is perhaps more reasonable to
explain the cock as the bird sacred to the healing-
god who must have been worshipped there. The
40 THE EARLIEST COINAGE
cock, we know, was sacred to Asklepios. The
reverse of the eariiest coins of Himera has the
'mill-sair incuse' impression, so-called from the
treatment of its four quarters so as to represent
the sloping sails of a windmill. Slightly later,
but still within our first period, are the coins on
which a hen appears as the reverse type (PL I. 5).
The earliest coins are uninscribed, or else have
one or two letters, which have not been adequately
explained, but which do not seem to represent the
name Himera. On the later coins with the hen
the town name is generally written HI ME, but this
is sometimes replaced by an inscription which has
long been a puzzle. Mr. George Macdonald has
recently shown that there is no substantial founda-
tion for the usual reading lATON, and that the
letters seem, in part at least, to represent
the legend 50TEP ('Saviour'), written backwards.
This word, which appears on later coins of Himera
(PI. IV. 5), may be an epithet of the chief deity
worshipped at the place, or more probably of the
local nymph or personification of the city — for we
find it written beside her on the later coins, and
Aeschylus and Sophocles give evidence that this
masculine form can be used as a name of the
goddess Tyche, the Fortune of the State.
The weights of the coins described above are
HIMERA. COIN-STANDARDS 41
peculiar among the standards in use in Sicily, and
we may pause here for a moment to consider them
in connexion with the question of Sicilian standards
in general. The weights, which correspond to those
of the coins of Cyme and Rhegium on the Italian
coast, appear to belong to the system known as
Aeginetic, from the fact that the coins of Aegina
are the most important currency conforming to it.
The drachm of this standard weighs about 90
grains troy — the weight in our period of the largest
coins of the three Sicilian cities just mentioned ^
But the silver of the other Sicilian cities belongs
to another system, called the Euboic-Attic, because
the early coins of Euboea and Athens are among
its chief representatives. Now the four-drachm
piece in this system weighed about 270 grains
troy, and contained 24 obols. It follows that three
Aeginetic drachms of 90 grains each were equiva-
lent to one Euboic-Attic tetradrachm of 270 grains,
while each Aeginetic drachm contained about
8 obols ol the Euboic-Attic standard, the two
systems thus working conveniently into each other.
It is true that Dr. Imhoof-Blumer regards these
^ A curious specimen of Zancle in the Ward Collection (no. 202)
weighs 146-3 grains troy. As it is much worn, it may once have
represented an Aeginetic didrachm ; but the loss by wear (about
33 grains) seems excessive ; and it is best to await the discovery
of a better preserved specimen.
42 THE EARLIEST COINAGE
apparently Aeginetic drachms as really thirds of the
Euboic-Attic tetradrachm, or Euboic- Attic octobols;
the division of the large coin into thirds instead of
halves and quarters being in his view suggested by
a similar divisional system at Corinth. But the
weights of certain small coins which do not fit into
the Euboic-Attic standard have been shown to be
unfavourable to this theory. Whatever be the
solution of the difficulty, so great was the import-
ance of the cities which used the Euboic-Attic
standard, that by the clo^e of our first period the
three Chalcidian cities^had abandoned their original
standard and fallen into line with their rivals.
But before the advent of the Greeks, Sicily had
possessed a standard of its own, based on the
pound or litra of bronze. For bronze was in Sicily,
as in Italy, the standard metal of native commerce.
The litra of bronze corresponded in value to about
13J grains troy of silver, and a silver coin of this
weight was consequently known as the silver litra.
Even during the ^incuse' period of the Zanclaean
coinage, silver litrae were issued, as the Aeginetic
could not be harmonized with the native system.
On the other hand, since this silver litra was just
one-twentieth of the Euboic-Attic tetradrachm of
270 grains, it was easy for the Greeks to bring
the Euboic-Attic system into harmony with that of
COIN-STANDARDS. SYRACUSE 43
the Sicel natives. The union of the tv^ may be
conveniently expressed in the following table : —
Euhoic- Attic name.
Sicel name.
Wt. in grains troy.
Decadrachm
50-litra piece
(>is
Tetradrachm
20-litra piece
270
Didrachm
lo-litra piece
135
Drachm
5-litra piece
675
Litra
135
Obol
11-25
The three Chalcidian cities having once adopted
a coinage of their own, it was inevitable that their
friends and rivals should follow suit. Syracuse
above all, but also Acragas, Camarina, Catana, Gela,
Leontini, and Selinus were coining, most of them
plentifully, before the end of our first period; even
the half barbarous Eryx in the far West has left us
coins with Greek inscriptions of this early date. I
The first issue of Syracusan coins is placed by
Mr. Head in the time of the Gamori. Holm on
the other hand is inchned to think that such an
important innovation must have been introduced by
the democracy after the expulsion of the oligarchs.
Whatever its date, the Syracusan coinage begins
with designs (PI. I. 6), which are the prototypes of
the composition of the famous Syracusan 'medal-
lions' of later times. On the obverse is a four-horse
44 THE EARLIEST COINAGE
chariot, the horses walking slowly ^ By a con-
vention betraying the inability of the engraver to
represent in so small a space all four horses, only
two are really delineated, their outlines being
doubled. The chariot is one of the racing-cars
with which so many Sicilians, tyrants or private
citizens, gained victories at the Greek games.
{/Above the chariot are the letters 5VPA^or IVPA-
[^90^ION. ' The earliest tetradrachm has on its
reverse merely the square mark of the die, divided
into four quarters. This issue is as yet represented \
(^ by a unique specimen in a private collection. On
the reverse of the next issue is a female head
treated in a style a good deal more advanced than
that of the Naxian Dionysus, and placed in the
centre of an incuse square which is treated in
the 'mill-sair manner. Whom does the head
represent? Arguing from later coins we might
say that it is the goddess of Victory; or < the
nymph Arethusa, whose fresh waters rose up in the
island of Ortygia, on which the original Syracuse
was founded ; or even the goddess Persephone,
^ In addressing Hiero in his fifth ode as evfioipe SvpaKoo-tW itttto-
8tv>jTo)v o-T/aaraye, Bacchylides of course refers to the Syracusan
devotion to horse-racing. It has been thought that the chariot-
group of the coins was in the poet*s mind ; but it was not until
after his time that the treatment of the group on the coins became
lively enough to justify his epithet ' whirled along by horses.'
SYRACUSE 45
whose worship was so prominent in Sicily. Yet
another suggestion is Artemis, who from primitive
times had been worshipped in Ortygia. Of these
interpretations the second and the fourth are the
more probable, but none is certain.
As time goes on, and the artist's hand gains in
cunning, a great change is perceptible in the style of
the Syracusan coins (PL I. 7). The treatment of the
horses is less wooden ; but, what is more significant,
the head, which fills so modest a place on the earliest
coins, is increased in size, and generally attains
importance. It will be long indeed before it is
promoted to the obverse side of the coin, except on
the smallest denominations ; but on pieces struck
toward^ the end of our present period it already
attracts as much attention as the obverse type. The
head, as representing the goddess or nymph wor-
shipped on the island of Ortygia, is surrounded by
dolphins. It is also encircled by a faint line along
which the heads of the dolphins, and the letters of
the inscription are ranged. / The inscription stillX yi^
preserves the archaic sign 9 (koppa), which towards
the end of our period is superseded by the K (kappa).
On the obverse the chariot is marked as victorious
by the addition of a figure of Victory, hovering above
the horses, and about to place a crown on their
heads.
ci^
46 THE EARLIEST COINAGE
The obverse-type of the two-drachm piece (PL I. 8)
represents not a four-horse chariot, but, more appro-
priately, two horses, one of them led by a man riding
the other. The drachm (PI. I. 9) has, as we should
expect, a single horseman. On this and on the
smaller coins, the litra and the obol (none of which,
probably, is older than about 485 b. c), the dolphins
are dispensed with. Further, on the litra (PI. I. 10)
and obol (PI. I. 11) the head is transferred to the
obverse, which is seldom, if ever, the case on the
larger coins until the end of the century. The obol
has for its distinguishing type the chariot-wheel;
while the litra has the sepia or squid. This last
type — having nothing to do with the chariot or
horses — at once marks out the coin on which it
occurs as belonging in reality to a different system
from the others.
We may now pass from Syracuse— where by this
time the old democracy had been replaced by the
brilliant rule of Gelo — to some of the other cities.
In 494 there was a sudden change in the affairs
of Zancle. Much is obscure in the history of this
period; but the best explanation seems to be that
Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegium across the straits,
induced certain Samians, who were on their way to
find a home in Sicily, to seize by treachery the city
of Zancle ; that he colonized it with a mixture of
SYRACUSE. ZANCLE-MESSANA 47 j
]
Samians and Messenians (from his old home of
Messene in Greece), and gave the name of Messene \
to the new settlement. Consequently, the types of i
a lion's head facing, and of a calf's head in profile i
(PI. I. 12), both of which remind one of Samos, ^
appear on coins struck in this city, together with
the inscription MESSENION, which by its form be- t>
trays the Ionian origin of the majority of the -j^
inhabitants. But suddenly there comes a change ; j
new coins are struck, with the types of a racing- !
car drawn by mules, and a hare (PL I. 13) ; and
very shortly afterwards, the second vowel in the
name of the people is changed from e to a, so
that we have the inscription MESSANION (PI. I. 14).
In other words the Ionian inhabitants are no
longer allowed to have their way and say as op-
posed to the Dorians. The types are the types of
Anaxilas, who is said by Aristotle to have intro
duced hares into Sicily, and, having won the mule-
car race at Olympia, to have placed the mule-car
and the hare on the coinage of Rhegium. What
he himself did at Rhegium he made his dependants
do at Messene. Then, a few years before the close
of our period, occurred a breach with the Samians
in Messene ; they were expelled, and the Doric
element in the new population became prepon-
derant, not without exerting an influence on the
48 THE EARLIEST COINAGE
dialect in which the inscription on the coins was
written.
Of the other Chalcidian colonies, Leontini can only
have begun to issue coins towards the end of our
period. Perhaps, being an inland cit}^, it did not
rise to importance so early as its neighbours on the
coast. The obverse type of the tetradrachm (PL I. 15)
is a chariot, usually proceeding at a slow pace, Victory
flying above the horses ; on the reverse, the badge of
the city, a lion's head with open jaws, is surrounded
by four barley-corns, significant of the fertility of the
Leontine plains. The inscription is AEONTINON.
Whether the lion's head was merely suggested by
the name of the city, as is the case with canting types
in modern heraldry, or whether it was adopted
because the animal was sacred to Apollo, of the
importance of whose worship at Leontini the later
coins give ample evidence, is a question which
cannot be discussed with much profit.
The smaller coins oi Leontini are mostly of later
style, and fall into the next period.
The issues of Catana begin with some remarkable
pieces struck towards or perhaps just after the close
of our period. Their style (PL I. 16) is so advanced
that we should be tempted to date them later, did we
not happen to know that the Catanaeans were expelled
from their city in 476 B.C. by the tyrant Hiero. The
^ ^ PLATE I
PAGE
1. Zancle: drachm 37
2. „ „ (obv.) 38
3. Naxos: „ 39
4. Himera : „ 39
5- » yy (""ev.) 40
6. Syracuse : tetradrachm 43? 44
7- >» » 45
8. „ didrachm (obv.) 46
9. „ drachm 4^
10. „ litra 46
11. „ obol (rev.) 46,111
12. Zancle- M e ssana : tetradrachm 47
13. „ „ didrachm 47
14. „ „ tetradrachm. Ward Collection ... 47
15. Leontini : tetradrachm 4^
16. Catana: „ 4^
17. Acragas : didrachm . . 49> 5*^
•ascnp^
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. (.Tdo) „ ■[' inidge of
. T.vdf) the„ fertility o| the
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. BiJil „ .hi
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- v.ol^.^..^u .m.i.£.Di..i3i oVitini;;the ;|ater
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IV^ V> V.
pelled
Plate I
<Jtx-
LEONTINI. CATANA. ACRAGAS 49
river Amenanus, on which the city stood, is repre-
sented by a bull with a human head ; one knee is bent
to indicate that he is swimming. Of this symbolism
we shall meet with remarkable examples at Gela.
Below the bull on most specimens is a river-fish;
above is an aquatic bird of some kind. Thus we
have the river represented with the fish that inhabit
its depths and the birds that haunt its surface.
Other symbols are found on other specimens;
thus on some a Silenus is represented in a
running attitude over the bull, very much as on
the famous Tirynthian fresco ; while below is a sea-
monster, of which we shall have something to say
when we find it again on the coins of Syracuse.
On the reverse, with the inscription KATANAION, is
a figure of Victory, advancing with a wreath in
her right hand, and holding up the skirt of her
chiton with her left; or, on other specimens,
carrying in her right an untied fillet, such as those
with which victors in athletic contests were decorated,
and in her left a wreath or branch.
It is only by their great numbers that the early
coins of Acragas give any indication of the splendid
series which is to follow in later times. Some of
them may be as early as the middle of the sixth
century. The eagle here (PI. I. 17; II. i) is prob-
ably to be regarded as the bird of Zeus ; the crab,
^'
50 THE EARLIEST COINAGE
which is generally identified as a freshwater species
— Tdphusa flumatth's — must have been plentiful in
the river Acragas ^ The inscription is AKPAC ANTO^,
often abbreviated to AKPA (PL I. 17).
The great city of Gela also began to issue money
(PL II. 4) only a few years before 480 B.C. With
the chariot-type we are already familiar; but the
forepart of the swimming bull is new and striking.
We shall see the monstrous river-god, the personifi-
cation of the savage force of the roaring stream,
represented with greater skill, perhaps, on some of
V the later pieces of this mint ; but even on these
early coins we find an admirable illustration of the
felicity of Vergil's use of epithet :
immanisque Gela fluvii cognomine dicta
; Aen. in. 702.
Could he have seen some such coin as this?
The inscription CEAAC is placed on the reverse,
and must be taken as giving the name not of the
city so much as of the river.
Camarina struck some small coins (litrae) during
the ten years that elapsed between its restoration
by Hippocrates of Gela in 495, and its destruction
^ Holm, on the other hand, regards it as a marine species :
Eriphia spinifrons. Prof. F. J. Bell informs me that, although
owing to the impossible representation of the crab's legs he cannot
decide definitely, he inclines to Telphusa ; the spiny front of E.
spinifrons is certainly not shown.
A ^
GELA. CAMARINA. ERYX 51
by Gelo in 485. The types (Fig. 2) are a quaint
figure of Victory flying, with a swan below her,
Fig. 2. Camarina : Litra.
the whole enclosed in a border of olive leaves, and
a figure of the goddess Athena, resting on her spear.
Athena's shield is at her feet, and she wears a large
crested helmet and her aegis with its snaky fringe.
The inscription is usually KAMAPINAION. We
shall have more to say of these types when we
come to the later coins. ^
We must close our sketch of the earliest period
with a brief reference to the remote cities of Western
Sicily. Eryx at this time shows by its types of
eagle and crab (PI. II. 2) that it was under the
influence of Acragas. The inscription is EPVI<INON.
The eagle sometimes stands on the capital of an Ionic
column. In this position the bird has been explained
as symbolizing victory, the capital being supposed
to indicate the column which marked the goal in a
Greek race-course. It is, however, equally possible
that the capital is merely put, by a kind of short-
hand, for a temple, and that the bird is here, as
usual, the bird of Zeus.
Selinus took its name from the selinon plant
E 2
52 THE EARLIEST COINAGE
which grew in the neighbourhood, and a golden
model of which the inhabitants once dedicated in
the temple of the Delphian Apollo. We could
therefore hardly hesitate to recognize in the type
of the earliest coins (PI. II. 3, 5) a formalized
representation of the plant, even if Plutarch' did
not tell us that the selinon was the symbol or badge
of the city. It is probably to be identified with
the wild celery — apium graveolens — which still grows
near Selinus. The question of its identity has
been fiercely disputed; those who wish to form an
opinion for themselves may remember that com-
parison of the living plant should be made with
many, and not merely with one, of the representa-
tions on coins, and also that a Greek die-engraver as
often as not sacrificed reahsm to a desire for an
effect suitable to the space which he had to fill.
The earliest Selinuntine coins are uninscribed, bear-
ing simply (PI. 11. 5) the leaf on the obverse,
and, on the reverse, an incuse square, variously
divided up by lines or bars. Later the leaf appears
also on the reverse, sometimes accompanied by
the first four letters of the town name, CEAI
(PI. 11. 3). "^
^ On the Oracles of the Pythta, c. 12.
Jiv.
;/aV^-^>^— ' ^^^'^-^
CHAPTER II
FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
B.C. 480-413
As the starting-point of the second chapter in
the history of SiciHan coinage, we choose the
epoch-making victory of the Greeks, led by Gelo of
Syracuse and Thero of Himera, over the Cartha-
ginian Hamilcar near the latter city. This victory
was the Salamis of Sicily, and Gelo was regarded,
and justly, as the saviour of Greek civilization in the
West. From this time onwards the city which he
ruled easily took precedence over all other Sicilian
cities, and its political predominance is paralleled
by the enormous preponderance of its coinage as
compared with that of the rest of the island.
The most remarkable of all Syracusan coins, it
may be said without much hesitation, are the large
ten-drachm pieces known as Damareteia^Ph II. 6).
The name is connected with Damareta, the wife of
the tyrant Gelo. One ancient authority fDiodorus)-
54 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
says that the coins were struck out of a present
made to the queen by the defeated Carthaginians, for
whom she had obtained somewhat easier terms than
they could have expected. -Others -(as Pollux) sa y th a t-
the coins were struck out of treasure provided by
Damareta and the Syracusan women in aid of the
cause of the Greek against the barbarian. We may
reconcile the two statements if we suppose that after
the war the sacrifice was recompensed by a portion
of the treasure obtained by Damareta from the
Carthaginians; the new Damareteia, in which such
a compensation would be made, would thus be con-
nected in the memory of men not only with the gift
made to Damareta, but also with the sacrifice which
she and the women of Syracuse had shown them-
selves ready to offer to their country. In any case
it is fairly certain — although a distinguished histo-
rian, who is not a numismatist, takes a different view
— that none of the Damareteia could have been
struck before the battle of Him era.
The obverse type of the Damareteion is the vic-
torious four-horse chariot. The long robe of the
driver has generally caused his sex to be mis-
taken by those who are unacquainted with the
peculiarities of Greek dress; but the discovery of
the bronze charioteer at Delphi should go some
way to dispel this error. As for the horses, these
SYRACUSE 55
coins without doubt represent a very great advance
beyond what we have seen accompHshed hitherto.
But still, in his attempt to attain that quality which
the Greeks called charis — our word 'grace' does
not well express it — the artist has revolted a little
too far from the sturdy forms of his predecessors.
The proportions of both charioteer and horses, for
instance, are too slim. In the exergue he has placed
a 'wild lion racing/ — emblem, as without undue fanci-
fulness it is interpreted, of the subdued and fleeing
forces of Africa. The ' reverse has a superb design.
The head of a goddess (probably Victory), wearing
a simple earring and necklace and crowned with a
laurel-wreath, her hair caught up behind by a plain
cord and hanging in a heavy loop on the neck, is
surrounded, first with a faint circular line ; next by
the letters of the inscription ^lYI^AKOCION the {koppa-
has now finally disappeared from the inscription)-
arranged in groups of two and three letters ; then
by four dolphins, whose ample proportions contrast
curiously with the reduced dolphins of the later Syra-
cusan issues. Finally, the rising up of the metal
round the edges of the die gives a kind of natural,
unconventional border to the whole design. When
we consider the detail of the head, we see that all
the exaggerated characters of the more archaic art
are softened. The eye, it is true, is not yet shown in
^
56 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
profile, and the ear is a little too high up ; there is
still a trace of what was once the 'archaic grin/ due
to an unskilful attempt to show the modelling of the
cheek and mouth. Here the attempt has resulted
in a smile, a little prim, perhaps, but not unpleasing.
The linear circle, which we have already seen on
a predecessor of the Damareteion, has been well
explained by Evans as the survival of the circular
margin enclosing the small head on the early
Syracusan tetradrachms, ' partly, no doubt, preserved
because it served a useful purpose in defining the
outlines of the head,' and, we may add, in giving
a line to which the letters of the inscription should
be ranged. It would be difficult to find any monu-
ment which conveys a better idea than this coin of
the grace and refinement, the faithful and careful
workmanship, the combination of formality with
the promise of freedom, which are characteristic of
the best archaic art of Greece.
Less striking than the ten-drachm piece is
the ordinary denomination of four drachms, of
exactly the same types] (PI. H. 7)^ When we re-
member that the various denominations were
usually accompanied by varying types, it seems
curious that some specially distinctive design was
not invented for the Damareteion. But the
novelty of the piece, the general interest its issue
SYRACUSE 57
must have excited, and especially its great size, *
made it quite unnecessary to differentiate it in this
way. The same phenomenon presents ^ itself in !^ (y
the case of the large English gold coins of \
modern times, which bear the same types as the
sovereign.
We pass from Gelo and the Damareteion — his-
torically the most interesting, and at the same time
one of the most fascinating, of all Sicilian coins —
to Hiero and the coins of his reign. Now, and
more especially after the fall of the tyrants, we
meet with an extraordinary succession of variations
in the standard types of female head and four-horse
chariot. The improvement in the art can be traced
by a series of fine gradations, each stage occupying
but a few years'! (PL II. 8 foil). ■ Life and vigour
gradually find their way into the delineation of the
horses; the charioteer's figure acquires character —
although as often as not he is 'off the flan,' thanks
to the careless striking of the coin ; and, above all,
the difficult task of representing the flying figure of
Victory is eventually solved, so far as it is possible
to solve it in art. On the reverse the head con-
tinues to increase in size, and the dolphins become
smaller. One of the early tetradrachms of this
period (PI. II. 8) shows excellently most of the
weaknesses of the archaic art; but it is worth
/lfrl^'
58 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
noting that in the treatment of the eye the artist
has attempted, if he has not quite mastered, the
representation of the profile view. In the exergue
is a sea-monster, known as the pistrix. Its appear-
ance as a symbol on these coins has been explained
by Mr. Head as an allusion to the great sea-victory
won by Hiero over the Etruscans in 474. We
r have, it is true, already seen (p. 49) that the pistrix
/ occurs as a symbol on coins of Catana which
( cannot be later than 476. But at Catana the
y symbol is isolated, whereas at Syracuse it is found
T^ K on a great number of issues spreading over a series
of years. We are justified therefore in accepting
Mr. Head's explanation on the ground that at
Syracuse the symbol seems to have some historical
significance, whereas at Catana no such significance
can be proved.
Although introduced on the Syracusan coins by
Hiero, the symbol did not disappear with his death ;
for there is good reason to suppose that some of the
more advanced coins displaying it belong to the
period of the democracy.
The head-dress of the nymph or goddess on this
coin is comparatively simple — a mere diadem of
pearls, with the ends of the hair caught up within
it; and the hair itself is treated as if it were wire.
The engraver has realized the inadequacy of the
PLATE II
I.
2.
3-
4-
5-
6.
7-
8.
9-
lO.
II.
12.
13-
14.
15-
16.
17-
Acragas : didrachm ....
Eryx: drachm
Selinus : didrachm (rev.)
Gela: tetradrachm . . . .
Selinus: didrachm . . . .
Syracuse : decadrachm (Damareteion)
tetradrachm
(rev.)
(rev.)
PAGE
49,50
5^
52
50
52
53 f.
56
57,58
59
59
59
59
59
59
59
59
59
VRUS
rcr\\ n
II 3TAJ4
«a'n ,
Qe- .
Ql . ^V
.roduc
ibol-.d
i beibib : : j
^:.y 31^ mri^Bi bib ; gj/n^Ja^ |.^ i
- ■ ibsij3t isJbO 4 i
' ncccptiip :
iistoricffl
v (.^3«)r:o sych sign\fican£f^
u .£1 •
„ yr^fiisan coins by
eated
Plate II
SYRACUSE 59
old-fashioned dotted lines, but his attempt at the
new method is unsuccessful.
Our next coin (PI. II. 9) shows a more pleasing
result. Here the artist has caught the soft effect of
the mass of hair ; but he still has considerable diffi-
culty with the lips, and in attempting to give cha-
racter to the lower part of the face has added an
element of coarseness. He has also made another
experiment in representing the eyelashes. His model
may have had beautiful eyelashes, but there are
limits to the representation of minute features in
art, and most of the later engravers wisely pro-
nounced this experiment a failure.
We must be content merely to illustrate (PI. II.
10 foil, and III. 1-5), without describing in detail,
some of the long series of coins which bring us
down to about 440 b.c, when a new feature (the
signed coins) will attract our attention.
Most people unacquainted with Greek art, as well
as those to whom only its monumental side is
familiar, are astonished at the modernity— as it is
called — of these heads. As a matter of fact the
coins do but show that the Greek artist knew how
to give a life-like representation of his model when
he had the chance. ' Extreme simplicity, unpre-
tending vigour of work, which claims no admira-
tion either for minuteness or dexterity, and suggests
6o FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
no idea of effort at all ; refusal of extraneous orna-
ment, and perfectly arranged disposition of counted
masses in a sequent order, . . . this is all you have
to be pleased with ; neither will you ever find, in
the best Greek Art, more.' These words of Ruskin^
are, in their general bearing, the most instructive of
commentaries on Sicilian art of the middle of the
fifth century. With all its faults, its lack of ideal
beauty, the healthy work of this period is in some
ways more satisfactory than even the magnificent
-(V achievements of the age of Cimon and Euaenetus,
\^^^^ because we cannot trace in it the foreboding of decay.
x^ The Syracusan coins of the last third of the fifth
century, and of the early years of the fourth century,
in other words of the finest period of Syracusan
art, are distinguished by the fact that the artists
employed to engrave the dies were allowed to
introduce their signatures. To this fact alone we
owe our knowledge of the names of the men who
produced the most beautiful series of coins in the
whole history of coinage.
Among the earliest to sign his name on a coin
was the artist Eumenes. A glance shows the im-
provement, as regards the treatment of the head,
on the work of earlier engravers. His signature
is sometimes placed {irv the form EVMHNOV) over
^ Aratra Pentelkt, § 119.
r
SYRACUSE: EUMENES; SOSION 6i
the forehead on the band which confines the hair
4Pl7-fflv-6). On other coins he signs in the field
(PHH. 7, 9) or in the exergue. In the treatment
of the horses he has attempted a further advance.
He represents them in high action instead of
walking or standing still; but the result is a some-
what primitive composition in which the parallelism
of the four sets of legs is anything but pleasing.
In fact the clumsiness of the animals contrasts
strikingly with the skilful handling of the flying
Victory and of the driver. The exergual space
formerly filled by the pistrix is, on Eumenes'
coins, sometimes left vacant, sometimes occupied
by opposed dolphins, a dolphin and fish, a scallop
shell, or his signature. — '
We find the dies engraved by Eumenes combined
with those of other artists ; but before dealing with
the most important of these new engravers, his
younger contemporary Euaenetus, we may consider
the work of another less famous engraver. Sosion
(^A^IAN) is represented by some rare tetradrachms
(PI. III. 8). The signature^ is placed on the front-
let of the head, as in the case of the early head
by Eumenes, and the affinity between the styles
^ Dr. Regling, who has kindly examined the coin at Berlin,
assures me that the name is Sosion, not Soson, as the Aberdeen
specimen appears to read.
p\'
;-i
i^
^■
62 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
of the two artists is striking. The chariot group
on the obverse of these specimens is probably by
Eumenes himself.
The work of Euaenetus marks a great step for-
ward in the treatment of the horses. As indicated
above, we find him working first on dies which are
combined with those of Eumenes. Thus we have
(PI. Illr-g)- a head signed EYMENOY combined with
a most skilfully composed chariot group from the
hand of the future artist of the ' medallions ' 1<^
The furthest horse has broken his rein, which
is tangled round his foreleg. Over the whole
floats Victory, holding in her hands an oblong
tablet, on which is written the name of Euae-
netus (EYAINETO). The pride of the artist in his
work may seem to us to have conquered his good
taste; but the naivete of the method which he
adopts to record his name is fully in accordance
with the Greek habit of mind. In the exergue are
two dolphins opposed, a symbol which is common
at Syracuse in this period -(it already occurs on the
^x:oin by Eumenes and Sosion); and is also met with
at Catana, where we shall subsequently have to
consider its significance. —
^ The specimens of this coin are mostly ill-preserved on the
obverse. A better impression of the same obverse die is found on
the coin (PL III. lo) with the reverse also by Euaenetus.
SYRACUSE: EUAENETUS 63
Another early specimen of the work of Euaenetus
(PI. III. 10) is a pretty head, wearing a frontlet on
which is a dolphin leaping over waves. The
artist's signature- is placed in tiny letters on the
belly of the dolphin before the lips of the nymph.
The obverse is similar to that of the coin just before
described.
On a slightly later obverse signed by Euaenetus
(PL III. 12) the horses are in higher action; and in
the exergue the artist has placed a chariot-wheel,
which we may suppose to have come off some
defeated chariot. The artist's signature is written
in microscopic characters along the exergual
line. Here again we have the broken rein. The
motif of the broken rein is thus a favourite fancy
of Euaenetus in his early period. It would be
hypercritical to suggest that, since such an accident
would inevitably bring about disaster, the figure of
Victory is hardly appropriate.
Another artist whose dies are combined with \ ^ ^ ^^
£:/JTH<
those of Eumenes signs himself EVO. He is
inferior as an engraver to Euaenetus, and perhaps .
somewhat his elder. But on the other hand he
shows a decided taste for innovation; he has
made the driver of his chariot -(PI. III. 11) a
winged figure, apparently male, crowned by Victory,
and in the exergue he has placed a beautiful
64 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
figure of the sea-monster Scylla, with her fish's
tail and the girdle of dogs around her waist. She
holds her trident over her left shoulder, and
extends her right hand towards a fish which
swims away from her clutches; above her tail
is a dolphin. The symbol has been not im-
probably explained as an allusion to the naval
success of the Syracusans and their allies over the
Athenians in B.C. 425. In that year the latter lost
ships in the engagements in the straits of Messana,
which the sea-monster was supposed to haunt. It
is easy to see the inferiority, in the composition of
the group of horses on this coin, to the work of the
great master Euaenetus.
Phrygillus ^ho signs his name 4>PYriAA or 4>PY)
is represented by two sets of coins. On the one
-{PL III. i4)j his reverse die (a head of Persephone
crowned with corn) is combined with an obverse
by the artist Euth . . ., which has been already
described. On the others (PL III. 13), which
appear to be rather later in style, and may indeed
date from the next period, we have the usual
female head, with the hair in a 'sling'; and the
locks which might hang down on the temples
are brushed back so as to break the line of the
band which comes "round the front of the head.
The chariot group (Persephone, holding a torch.
SYRACUSE. ACRAGAS 65
drives the car) on the reverse of this second group
of coins by Phrygillus is an admirably balanced
composition, apparently by the artist Euarchidas.
All the signed coins which we have described
above, with the probable exception of the later
coins of Phrygillus, may be dated approximately
between the years 430 and 415.
We may now leave Syracuse and turn to the
other cities and their coinage. Throughout this
period the types of Acragas (eagle and crab) con-
tinue the same, with very slight modifications ; and
the coins must have been plentifully struck, for the
prosperity of the place was enormous, both during
the period succeeding the victory of Himera, while
Thero was still tyrant, and after the establishment
of a democracy in 472. Symbols, such as the rose
(PI. III. 15); barley-corn, dolphin, now occur in
the field of the reverse. The tetradrachms and
didrachms of this period are supplemented by a
number of smaller coins. The drachm (PI. III. 16),
a^ being also a piece of five litrae, is inscribed
P-EN, i. e. pentalitron. Some of the smaller denomi-
nations have types differing from the larger — an
eagle's head, a tripod, or merely five or two pellets
to denote the value of the coin.
Of greater interest than the coins of Acragas are
those of Himera, the city of which the Acragantine
fk
66 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
Thero was in possession at the time of the defeat
of the Carthaginians. During his possession of the
city, which ended in 472, and presumably during
the very short time that the incompetent Thrasy-
daeus filled his dead father's place, coins were issued
which neatly illustrate the relation of dependency
in which Himera stood to Acragas ; for on the
didrachms (PI. IV. i), while the cock and the name
of Himera (HIMERA) stand on the obverse, the crab
of Acragas serves as the reverse type. On the
drachms with similar types the city-name is trans-
ferred to the reverse.
Another drachm (PL HI. 17), which belongs to the
same period, has as its reverse-type, in place of
the Acragantine crab, a knucklebone (astragalos),
with the inscription HIMEPAION. The knucklebone
and two pellets are the types of a tiny hexas or
two-ounce piece of the same time. The use of
the knucklebone in antiquity for the purpose of
divination or the consulting of oracles, as well
as for gaming, is well known; and it is possible
that some such custom was connected with one of
the Himeraean shrines. Gabrici has suggested that
the use of astragaloi may have been widely pre-
valent in Himera, since we know that one of
the throws was named after the poet Stesichorus,
a native (by most accounts) of the city. It would,
PLATE III
6.
7.
8.
9-
10,
II.
12.
13.
14.
15-
16.
17.
Syracuse : tetradrachms (reverses) .
tetradrachm (Eumenes) .
( „ rev.)
PAGE
59
61
61
Acragas
Himera
drachm
(Sosion, rev.). Aberdeen Universiiy {for-
merly in the Davis Collection)
(Eumenes, rev.)
(Euaenetus) . . . . .63,
(Euth . . ., Eumenes) ....
(Euaenetus, obv.)
(Phrygillus, Euarchidas) ....
(Phrygillus, rev.)
61
61
99
63
63
64
64
65
65
66
ilMERA
s'ARUS
did/
f r
Id
Id
umably during
Tirtont Thrasy'
. , ^ :-.^ issued
-lation of dep^rir^pncy
HI HTA.m \rr;!cr,T. - for .... Uie
d the name
(asei^v^i) ararfjBifafiiJa^i :-3a'.jo^Q .grab
^ " '-^M.)' 'jA^''''^^^«^v5 «^?fe^a6k' .(,V^-*iXioi2b» k
^)^•^he
-igririt^..
Id.
Id" '
fid
(.V31 ^g9n3mij3) „
(e^naQiua ^ ^. . . dni3) ,_ „
(.Vdo ,81/lOi
" .i;"plac6^ of
The knsfcklefebne
,, afigBioA .gi
fnrfiB-feny^hexa^ or
. rpose of
'^ well
possible
h one of
^^' d that
/ pre-
..c... v.-ne of
y-.^i Stesichorus,
^< named after
Plate III
HIMERA 67
however, be fanciful to see in this fact an explana-
tion of the coin-type.
After the expulsion of the tyrants, an entirely new
set of types appears at Himera. First, on the
obverse (PL IV. 2), comes the familiar type of the
four-horse chariot. But on the reverse (PI. IV. 3)!
is a composition full of interesting local colour.
A female figure, probably the local nymph, clad
in a chiton and peplos, the folds of which are
rendered with characteristic formality, stands pour-
ing a libation from a libation-bowl over an altar;
her unoccupied hand is raised, as she pronounces
the invocation which accompanies the sacrifice.
Balancing the altar, on the other side of her, is
a pretty group of a small Silenus standing in front
of a fountain, from the lion's mouth of which a
stream of water falls on his body. He is obviously
enjoying himself in the warm baths near Himera
which were so famous in antiquity, and to the
neighbourhood of which the inhabitants removed
after the destruction of their city in 408. Hardly
less interesting than this coin is another tetradrachm
(PI. IV. 4), on which is represented Pelops (PEAOt);
standing in his chariot. The appearance of the
hero at Himera is unexplained, but we shall find
a later coin suggesting a connexion between the
Sicilian city and the Olympian festival of which
F 2
V
\
68 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
he was the founder. On the reverse, the nymph
Himera-(iM£PA^is occupied with her peplos, which
she is putting on over her chiton. The type
is probably a mere study in the draped female
figure. . On another coin — a didrachm (PL IV. 5) —
we have a horseman riding sideways on a galloping
horse. This represents a feat of horsemanship in
which the anabates^ as he was called, leapt from
his steed in full course, and ran beside it. The-
4nscription is fMEPAION; On the reverse of the same
^\ coin is the nymph Himera sacrificing)?^ she 4s-here-
, ^called ^OTHP (instead of by the more usual feminine
X — ^form of the epithet).
The smaller coins have puzzling types. The half
drachm (PI. IV. 6) shows a nude youth riding on
a goat, holding a herald's wand or caduceus, and
blowing a conch, while on the reverse is a figure
of Victory (sometimes inscribed NIK A) flying, and
carrying an aphlaston^ the ornament which decorated
the stern of the ancient ship. There must be a
reference to some victory in this type : not im-
probably it alludes to the burning of the Cartha-
ginian ships at the battle of Himera. Very possibly,
toe, the pair of greaves (Kg.- 3) and helmet of the
obols represent spoils from the same victory. The
litra, again (Fig. 4), represents on one side a youth
riding on a he-goat ; on the other, a strange beast,
HIMERA. MESSANA 69
compounded of a bearded human head with goat's
horns, Hon's feet, and bird's tail. It might be
Fig. 3. Himera: Obol. Fig. 4. Himera : Litra.
discreet to waive all attempt to explain this fantasy;^:
b«^-we shall return to the subject in a- later-
cbapterv
Of even greater historical value than the coinage
of Himera is that of Messana. That city was not
freed from the power of Anaxilas and his house
until the time of the general liberation in 461. It
is probably to one of the episodes in the struggles
with Rhegium in the second quarter of the century
that we have to assign a coin of the usual types
and legend, but with the syllable AO added on the
reverse, in large letters, above the hare. Mr. Evans
has shown that in all probability this syllable indi-
cates the Italian city of Locri, in which, as the
enemy of Rhegium, the Messanians would find
a cordial ally.
In the course of the democratic period a slight
but significant variation is made in the type of the
obverse. The male charioteer, who might be
regarded as driving the chariot of the tyrant, is
replaced by the personification of the city itself.
70 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
She is, on some of the later coins (PlrHtV. 7),
actually named ME^^ANA. Mr. Evans has shownj-
f ^ 'jj hewm^^hstt me most important coin of th io peri od^ '/^ ^
^historically speaking, is a remarkable tetradrachm
fPt . IV. 0) which, if style and analogy with types
of other cities furnish any criteria, cannot be
dated much earlier than the middle of the fifth ;
century. There stands, on the obverse, a vigorous
figure of a god, with his chlamys or short cloak .
arranged over his shoulders and arms in the ,
manner usual with the sea-god Poseidon, and
brandishing in his right hand the thunderbolt — ,
a weapon not confined to Zeus, but sometimes
wielded by the earth-shaking sea-god. Before him
is an altar. On the reverse is a dolphin, with
a scallop-shell beneath it, and above is the inscription
DANKUAION. It is clear 'that, in this city of nicely
balanced factions and perpetual revolutions, a turn
of the wheel about that time gave the old
Zanklaean element once more for a moment the
upper hand' — hence the change in type and legend,
and the reappearance of the dolphin as the main :
type together with the sea-god of which it is but
the symbol.
r There exists another piece which bears out the i
^ ' theory that about the middle of the fifth century
I Messana for a time changed its name to Zancle.
MESSANA 71
This is a coin (PL IV. 9) struck at the ItaHan
city of Croton, bearing the type of that city (the
Apolhne tripod) on both sides, and the usual in-
scription 9^^ o^ the obverse. But beside the
reverse type is written DA, which, on the only
probable interpretation, must stand for Zancle.
The Zanclaean revolutionaries, therefore, sought
help against their opponents from Croton, as the
Messanians had found it in Locri. - —
Mr. Evans has sought to detect political signi- fj^
ficance in the appearance at Syracuse and at
Messana (PI. IV. 7) of the exergual symbol of two
opposed dolphins, and to show that it was intro-
duced by way of allusion to the alliance which was
cemented between the two cities in 425 in face of
the Athenian danger. The number of coins with
this symbol in the exergue is so considerable
that, on this hypothesis, their issue must, as
Mr. Evans recognizes, have "continued for some
time after the conclusion of peace between Messana
and Athens in the next year — perhaps even after
the advent of the Athenian expedition. But to
judge from the comparatively stiff style of many
of the coins of Messana with two dolphins, it seems
more probable that in that city at least the symbol
was adopted earlier than 425.
The Chalcidian city of Naxos lost its indepen-
72 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
dence early in the fifth century, arid while under
the dominion first of the Geloan Hippocrates, and
then of the Syracusans Gelo and Hiero, seems to *
have struck no coins of its own. The pieces with
which we have now to deal, although showing
distinctly archaic features, can hardly be earlier
than 476, when the inhabitants of Naxos were
transferred to Leontini. We must therefore regard
them as having been issued very soon after the
expulsion of the tyrants in B.C. 461. The types
continue to be connected with the worship of
Dionysus, and the head on the tetradrachms of
this period is amongst the most remarkable, although
not the most pleasant representations of that god
(PI. IV. 10). He is crowned with ivy, and his
features still retain an archaic cast, which is in-
tensified by the formal neatness of the whole
rendering. But in the care with which the different
qualities of the hair of the head, the moustache,
and the beard are rendered, and in the way in
which the border of dots is broken to allow parts
of the design to escape beyond it, we see the
marks of an original and thoughtful artist. The
later representations of Dionysus tone down, as
a rule, the sensual character of the god so well
expressed in this head, or modify it in the direction
of effeminacy.
NAXOS 73
The reverse is very striking. A Silenus, one
of the minor creations with which Greek fancy
filled the train of the wine-god, is squatting on
the ground. -We — have already -seen his fellow^
J^thing in the fountain at Himerar His snub-
nosed, bestial features, with his pointed ear, rough
hair, and equine tail, mark his position halfway
between beast and man. Supporting himself on
his left hand, he raises to his lips a two-handled
cantharus full of wine. But most interesting is
the treatment of the anatomy. The whole body
is a study in muscle, not entirely suitable when
the subject is a half-drunken Silenus in repose.
All the muscles of the breast and abdomen are
rendered in an almost exaggerated state of strain,
a strain which, in this position, is only justified
in the legs. The artist, in fact, has endeavoured
to display all his knowledge of the anatomy of the
human frame.
It is instructive to compare with this coin the
tetradrachm with similar types struck towards the
end of our period (PI. IV. ii). All the formalism
has disappeared from the treatment of the head of
Dionysus. The hair is handled freely, its curling
locks suggesting indeed the free use of unguents;
the features .reproduce admirably the effects of
sensuality before it destroys the beauty of the face.
74 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
On the reverse we can see just the same advance
in the body of the Silenus, with its softly rounded
^ forms. Note too the introduction of ornamental
i details in the ivy and thyrsus.
Vj The legend on the earlier issues of this period is
N AXIOM, while on the later the third letter has the
\ form Z.
'he coins of Catana during this period are of
great historical importance. A small coin struck
just before 476 B.C., or, possibly, just after the
-restoration 0^461, shows a bald head of Silenus,
and, on the reverse, a thunderbolt of rather unusual
shape, with two curled wings (PL IV. 12). The coin
is inscribed KATANE. Now we know from various
historical references that in 476 Hiero expelled the
inhabitants of Catana, and placed in the city a colony
of Syracusans on whom he could depend for support
in case of trouble arising in his own city. He
changed the name of Catana to Aetna, and this name
it retained until the restoration of the exiles in 461.
To fill this gap come some remarkable coins. First
there are small pieces with similar types to those just
described, but reading A I THAI >^
l^^j 1 (^^g- S)'! B^^ much more ex-
^^^^ traordinary is a unique tetra-
FlG. S- CaTANA-AeTNA. j 1 /t^i t\t \ ' J.-L.
^ drachm (PI. IV. 13), now m the
collection bequeathed by Baron Hirsch to the Brussels
CATANA-AETNA 75
Museum. On the obverse, which has the inscrip-
tion AITNAION, is a vigorous head of a bald
Silenus, with the usual semi-bestial features, and
a full beard; an ivy-wreath, treated in a manner
more decorative than naturalistic, Hes on his bald
pate. Below is a scarabaeus-beetle, of the kind
which an ancient commentator on Aristophanes says
was found of great size on Mount Aetna. On the
reverse is the figure of Zeus, under whose tutelage
the city was placed. He is seated, holding in his
left hand a thunderbolt of shape similar to that
found on the small coins just described ; his right
hand rests, not on an ordinary sceptre, but on
a natural branch, probably — as the district was so
rich in wine — taken from a vine. A lion's or
a panther's skin — the panther is an attendant of
the wine-god — covers his seat. Before him is his
sacred eagle, perched on the summit of a pine —
again a touch of local colour, seeing that in antiquity
pine-forests covered the slopes of Aetna. There are
few coins which so completely fit in with all that
history tells us of the circumstances of the period
when they were struck, as does this curious coin
of Hiero's short-lived colony.
The expelled Hieronians retired to Inessa, another
spot on the slopes of Aetna, to which they again
gave the name of the volcano. We shall meet with
\ b'"
76 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
their coins at a later period. The restored
Catanaeans now produced, among other less
important pieces, a fine series of tetradrachms,
reading katanaiON or l<ATANAIO£, with the head
of Apollo and a four-horse chariot (PL IV. 14, V. i,
2). The heads on these coins, like the similar heads
which we shall find at Leontini, form the counter-
part to the female heads at Syracuse, although, the
number of dies being fewer, we do not meet
with anything like the same variety.
At Syracuse we have seen the female head as
treated by Euaenetus in his earliest manner; at
Catana, where he seems to have worked for some
time before the Athenian disaster, we find him
producing some beautiful heads of the other sex.
A splendid tetradrachm (PI. V. 3) represents a
victorious chariot passing the turning-post, which
stands on the right. The charioteer reins his
plunging horses round ; above flies the Victory with
a wreath in one hand, the tablet with the engraver's
name in the other. The tablet is less offensive to
the modern eye in this group than on the Syracusan
specimens; it is held less conspicuously, and the
high action of the horses draws away our attention.
The head on the reverse is a youthful, almost girlish
Apollo, with a laurel-crown ; the main type is flanked
by two symbols, a fillet to which is attached a bell.
PLATE IV
1. Himera: didrachm
2. „ tetradrachm (obv.)
3.
4-
5.
6.
PAGE
66
67
67
67
40,68
68
70,71
(rev.)
„ Weber Collection
didrachm. Weber Collection ....
half-drachm . . . . .
7. Messana: tetradrachm
8. Zancle restored : tetradrachm. Bi^ssels [formerly in the
Hirsch Collection) 7°
9. Croton and Zancle : didrachm 71
10. Naxos: tetradrachm 72,73
11. „ „ 73j74
12. Catana: litra 74
13. Aetna: tetradrachm, Brussels {formerly in the Hirsch Col-
lection) 74>75
14. Catana: tetradrachm -i^jjjjat^J^
15. „ drachm (Euaenetus). Ward Collection . ^^»^
ti
SINARUS
nVi^C
tptradrarhins
t'
8d
VI 3TAJ^i '' similar h.....^
. the coiinter-
;rb-1lBd „ ,d
....... r ■ ■■ 'm^M -^^
S% '. . . . . • . -.' ; a) *^Rr?^SBte:^
ligraver's
uid the
*-"ntion.
fu^M girlish
r i^ f linked
Plate IV
L^N
. CATANA. LEONTINI 77
and a crayfish. The bell, which we know to have
been used in the cult of Dionysus, may perhaps
have a religious significance here; but it is more
probably the private signet of a magistrate.
Another fine head (PL IV. 15) also produced by
Euaenetus at Catana represents the river-god
Amenanus, in almost purely human form. Unlike
the monster of Gela, the Amenanus is represented
as a youth with his hair confined by a fillet; but
just above his forehead sprouts a little horn.
Around are two river-fishes and a crayfish.
Leontini, like most cities in the neighbourhood,
was during the time of Hiero forced under the 1 (V^
power of Syracuse. One of its earliest coins, issued
during the period of subjection, must be considered
in connexion with the Damareteia. On those deca-
drachms, and on the corresponding tetradrachms,
we have seen in the exergue the running lion,
which is generally supposed to have reference to
the defeated forces of Africa. On the tetradrachm
of Leontini issued about the same time (PL V. 4),
.we have a lion repeated as symbol in the same
subordinate position on both sides of the coin. On
the obverse is a victorious quadriga^ in the exergue,
a lion running, very much as on the Damareteia.
The main type of the reverse is an archaic head
(
I?rf
r^
78 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
of Apollo, wreathed with laurel, with stiff, formal
ringlets hanging over his temples, and a long lock
down his neck — an admirable example of the style
of about 480 B.C. Around are three leaves of
his sacred tree, and below a springing lion, in
a somewhat different attitude from the symbol on
the obverse. Now, remembering the significance
of the city's name, and the fact that its usual
type and badge on the succeeding coinage is a
lion's head, we must be careful how we interpret
these symbols. The parallelism between the obverse
and the Damareteion type is so striking that we
can hardly deny them the same significance. On
the other hand, the lion of the reverse may justly
be interpreted as the badge of the city.
Another tetradrachm (PL V. 5)]^ which shows
quite as strongly the influence of Syracuse, bears
a female head, the hair confined by a wreath,
and surrounded by four barley-corns. The coin is
almost certainly from the same hand that wrought
the piece we have just described, and also the
Damareteion. The approximation to the latter is
carried out even to the omission of the lion under
the head on the reverse, so that but for the
inscription AEONTINON (retrograde) we should take
this coin to be Syracusan.
Two specimens of the later tetradrachms of
LEONTINI 79
Leontini must suffice us here. The head of Apollo
on the former (PI. V. 6) belongs to about the middle
of the century. On the reverse the lion's head
badge is surrounded by the usual four corn-grains.
On some varieties (mostly of later date), we find
one of the grains replaced by another symbol,
usually connected with Apollo : his sacred tripod,
his lyre, a laurel-leaf, and the like.
The second coin (PL V. 7), at present in the col-
lection of Mr. John Ward, is chosen because of the
extraordinarily fine style of the head, which re-
sembles the head of Apollo on the coins struck at
Olynthus in Macedon, rather than those on any
other Sicilian coin. It cannot be much earher than
422 B.C. (when Leontini was once more reduced by
Syracuse), and one is tempted to date it even later.
The fourth symbol on the reverse is a river-fish.
All the smaller Leontine coins of this period bear
on the one side a lion's head ; on the diobol and
obol it is represented facing. A horseman is the
other type of the didrachm (PI. V. 8) and of the
earlier drachm; the later drachm has a head of
Apollo I (PL V. 9); barley-corns, or else a varying
number of pellets indicating the value, serve for the
still smaller denominations.
As we have already seen, the Syracusan colony
of Camarina had issued a few small coins with the
8o FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
types of Athena and a flying Victory during the
brief period between 495 and 485 b.c. It was
destroyed in the latter year by Gelo, but, being
restored as a colony of the city of Gela in the
year of the liberation (461), it began to issue coins
on a larger scale. The earliest piece of the period
is a didrachm, with a helmet on a shield for its
Fig. 6. Camarina : Didrachm.
obverse type, and, on the reverse, a dwarf-palm
between two greaves. It can hardly be jnuch
later than 461. Like the somewhat similar types
at Himera, these types may be meant to allude
to the defeat of the Carthaginians. Towards the
close of our period were issued tetradrachms with
a head of Heracles, bearded, and wearing the
lion's skin, with the muzzle over his forehead,
and the forelegs tied round his neck. On the
obverse is a victorious four-horse chariot, driven by
the goddess Athena, the chief deity of Camarina.
The inscription is KAMAPINAION. The specimen
illustrated here (PI. V. 10) is curiously double-struck.
Whether the chariot has special reference to any
>i victory at Olympia or other of the Panhellenic
CAMARINA. GELA
8i
^ ^Jlii^
festivals, it is difficult to say. It is more probable
that the type appears simply because it is the
favourite type of all Sicilian cities. An attempt
has, it is true, been made to connect it with the
victory of Psaumis of Camarina at Olympia in 452, •
celebrated in Pindar's fourth Olympian^ and in the
ode — by v^hatever author — which follows it.
At Gela, the next great city of the southern coast, \ ^^iv<jf
the types of the bull with human head, and the j
racing-chariot, continue in use. The tetradrachm \ \
^(Pl. V. 12) with the representation of one of the 1
goals behind the horses must have been issued at \
the very beginning of our period, if not earlier. / ^
Later specimens !(P1. V. 14) show a considerable
advance in the humanizing of the bull's head, for
the full development of which we shall have to
wait for the last decade of the city's existence
immediately preceding its destruction by the Car-
thaginians.
h^fl The most interesting of Geloan coins of this period
is perhaps the tetradrachm [(PI. V. ii)j which repre-
sents a female figure, Lcalled £0£inOAI£, andlevi-
dently meant for the City-goddess, crowning the
river-god. The contrast between the huge monster
and the youthful figure, who hardly reaches to the
top of the bull's head, tells its tale effectively ; the
city has tamed its river, has made it do its appointed
G
\\
r
82 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
task of fertilizing the Geloan lands, and now rewards
and honours it for its services.
Towards the end of pur period comes a beautiful
tetradrachm (PI. V. 15)^ with a new type. Victory
drives the victorious chariot, the horses pacing
slowly ; above them hangs a large wreath. On the
reverse is a striking head of the river-god Gelas, but
with all traces of the bull-nature removed, excepting
the small horns on his forehead '. The head, which
is treated in a severe style, has all the attractiveness
of the whole-figure representation of a river-god
which we shall meet with on coins of Segesta.
Three fine river-fishes (treated, in the original, with
a detail of fin and scale which is inadequately repre-
sented in the reproduction) make a framework for
this admirable head. It seems curious to modern
minds, but is thoroughly characteristic of the Greeks,
that two representations so different of the same
deity could figure side by side on the coinage with-
out suggesting to those who used them any incon-
gruity or confusion of thought.
The type of the Geloan didrachms (Fig. 7 is)
a mounted lancer, usually wearing a conical helmet.
This type, in an archaic form, was also employed
* In the specimen from the Hirsch Collection here illustrated a
slight flaw extends from the tips of the horns towards the crown
of the head.
PLATE V
I.
2.
3.
4-
5-
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
II.
12.
13.
14.
15-
PAGE
Catana : tetradrachm (rev.) . .^Hj||^^^^Kr 7^
(Euaenetus) '7 '^^^K'
Leontini „ ^^^^ ' '^^
>§ • '^^
(rev.). Ward Collection . . .;? . 79
„ didrachm 79
„ drachm 79
Camarina: tetradrachm ^
Qela . ^^ (rev.). Brussels {formerly in the Hirsch
Collection) . . ... • 81
81
jj "
Brussels ( formerly in the Hirsch Collec-
//o«) ...... 83
(rev.) 81
Brussels (formerly in the Hirsch Collec-
//o«) 82
30AT
82 '^ ■.:^.:.
;ng the wards
irds tb beautiful
acing
slov large wreath. he
iiR'^h^Jcf'A? the river-god Gelas, but
;i(e bull-nature removed, excepting
^ loms on his forehteWP^^rf^^^M^hf^^iB^Xrhich
dr , ..IrtenkASv '■ '■:;' . Mac'Hvehess
^ which. Scg(^t.i
w Three- fini : > w^^>v^^ Vv^iW-t .(tv«i) ^rjal, .^ith
^ a detail of fin and - "^^atcH' r^^n
<* scnted in the reproductioii • Hiiio^bsi}9tr:Lyffi4i\^j5>5koilor
,8 ihtrl^^f^^^ curious td-Wbdtrn
'8 nund^, but is. thoroughly characteristic of the <pr<^s,
^ tb^^^^^l^^lWH^ dUkrtnt of the 3»iTie
^® deity 4 -je.b\<.v^t)< < p ,^1^. coinage j^th-
It s! • ; y^^v • -ctnher " -
s8 ^'Ut ^!.
is)
1 helmet,
mployed
* In !■ • the ti illustrated a
slight fla. Hie tli: -
of the head.
Plate V
GELA. SELINUS 83
for the drachm, which does not seem to have been
issued after the early years of this period. A very
Fig. 7. Gela : Didrachm.
rare tetradrachm (PL V. 13) also has the lancer type,
and is further distinguished from other tetradrachms
by the fact that the complete man-headed bull, in-
stead of only the forepart, is shown on the reverse.
The earlier litra (PI. VI. i), again, has a riderless
horse, with a wreath above it; on the later issues
(PI. VI. 2) we find a horseman carrying shield and
spear. The wheel, as at Syracuse, distinguishes
the obol. It is clear that the principle of using
distinguishing types for the different denominations
was not rigidly observed at Gela.
The city of Selinus rose to great importance in
the period of expansion which followed the defeat
of the Carthaginians. Some of the coins with the
simple type of the selinon leaf doubtless continued
to be issued after that event; but as their pros-
perity increased, the Selinuntines struck larger and
finer coins^ wfeiehr-remind one, in the fullness of
their leeal-^allusions, of the tetradrachm of Aetna.
There can be little doubt but that these coins
G 2
84 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
allude to the deliverance of the city from a pesti-
lence caused by the stagnation of the waters of the
' river. The people died, and the v^omen suffered
grievously in childbirth. Empedocles, the cele-
brated philosopher, was consulted, and by a feat
of engineering, which seems to have consisted in
connecting the channels of two rivers, and thus
obtaining a stronger current, swept away the cause
of the malaria. The tetradrachms with which we
have to do show on the obverse^, (PI. VI. 3) the
deities Apollo and Artemis proceeding slowly in
their chariot, Artemis driving, while her brother
the sun-god discharges arrows from his bow. The
arrows are the healing rays of the sun, which drive
away the malarial mists; and Artemis is beside
him as the goddess who eases the pains of women
labouring with child. LThe legend is ^EAINONTION.
On the reverse (PL VI. 4) is the river-god Selinus
-^:£EAINO^) himself, a youthful figure, . with small
horns on his head, sacrificing with a libation-bowl
over an altar. The altar is sacred to Asklepios,
the god of healing, for a cock, his sacred bird,
stands before it. In his left hand the river-god
holds a branch, used for sprinkling lustral water in
the ceremony of purification. Behind him stands
the figure of a bull on a pedestal, and above that
is a selinon leaf. It is difficult to explain the bull.
SELINUS 85
It may be that it 'symbolizes the sacrifice which
was offered on the occasion ' of the cleansing. Or
is it, as the pedestal seems to suggest, some monu-
ment, erected at the time as an offering in expiation
of the summary method which Empedocles had
adopted with the cause of the pestilence? To the
Greeks, there must have been behind that pestilence
some supernatural power, who would be offended
by the philosopher's interference with him. And
what do we find on the other Selinuntine coins
before us (PL VI. 6) ? On the obverse, the struggle
between health and strength on the one hand, and
the power of the stagnant water and its effluvia
on the other, is symbolized by the battle between
Heracles and the Bull, On the reverse, another
river-god, this time the Hypsas (HYtA^) is repre-
sented sacrificing, with libation-bowl and lustral
branch, to a god around whose altar a serpent
twines. This altar is probably once more an altar
of Asklepios. Behind Hypsas the place of the bull
is taken by a marsh-bird, which seems to stalk
away in high disgust at the disappearance of its
favourite haunts. The selinon-leaf fills the rest of
the field. These two coins thus complement each
other, and in their curious fullness of detail form
a most illuminating commentary on the dry state-
ment of the ancient biographer of Empedocles.
86 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
Unaffected artistic representations such as these
do more to show us the habit of the Greek mind
than many pages of poet or historian, for they
reveal it to us at unawares.
Further allusions to the river and to the god of
healing are to be found on the small silver litrae or
obols (PI. VI. 5\ inscribed ^EAINOE^, ^BAINO£, or
^EAINONTION. On these we find a man-headed
d^r bull, and a female figure (the local nymph? or the
goddess of health ?) seated, with a snake erect before
*, her ; she grasps the snake with her right hand.
It is improbable, to judge merely from the style
' ) of the coins of Segesta, that any of them were
issued before 480, although some must be dated
very close to that year. The types -(Rl.- VI. 7, 9 and
-Figs. 8, 9)- are made interesting by the allusion to
Fig. 8. Segesta : Didrachm.
local legend which they convey. On the obverse
is a hound, on the reverse a female head, the long
hair caught up in a loop behind. -The pec^^har
terminations of the inscription — i^AFE^TAilB, XEC-
-KTAilB, or ^ECE^TAilBEMl— represent forms of
SELINUS. SEGESTA 87
the Elymian dialect, on explaining which- iTi:U€4i-4n-
genuity_lias_Jieen.-expended, with but -httk-su€cess.
-Bttt-we-ai^-ffleFe-feFtH«ate in bemg-aWe ^:o interpret
the typ es. Since legend said that the founder of
the city was the son of the river-god Crimisus, who
at his union with the Trojan nymph Segesta took
on himself the form of a hound, there can be little
doubt that the figures on our coin represent the
river Crimisus and the nymph Segesta. In the
later issues, these types are diversified by the
addition of symbols, the most important of which,
the barley-plant (Fig. 9), is treated picturesquely.
Fig. 9. Segesta : Didrachm.
and forms a background to the main type. The
work of these Segestan coins is often extremely
rude, and shows the hindrances which Greek art 11^^
encountered when it came into contact with the
barbarian element.
The coins with the barley-plant belong to the very
end of our period, or are perhaps even a year or two
later. The same is true of a curious modification of
the hound-type, which represents the animal stand-
88 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
ing on the head of a stag (PI. VI. 9). At this
time the influence of the Syracusan artist Euae-
netus made itself felt in this remote corner of
the island. It has been plausibly suggested that
the coins which show it were first issued at the
time when the people . were making a bold bid
for Athenian aid against Selinus and Syracuse in
416 and 415 B.C. These coins, which are tetra-
drachms (PL VI. 8), have on the obverse an
admirable composition, representing a youthful
figure, his conical helmet hanging at his back,
his chlamys on his left arm. He stands resting
his left foot on a rock, and holding in his left
hand two hunting-javelins. A couple of hounds
in leash accompany him, one snuffing the ground,
the other with head erect and ears pricked up.
In front of him is a small terminal statue, or
boundary mark. We are told that the people
of Segesta worshipped their river-gods in human
form, and since we have seen that on the earlier
coins the river Crimisus is represented by a hound,
we shall not be far out if we accept the usual
explanation, which makes this young heroic figure
the river Crimisus. But what is the meaning of
the boundary-mark? The idea that he is watch-
ing the boundary of his city's territory, to see
if the enemy come, seems forced; but no better
SEGESTA. ERYX 89
suggestion has yet been put forward. On the
reverse, the head of the nymph Segesta shows
some resemblance to the work of Euaenetus, but
perhaps hardly enough to justify the theory that
it is from the hand of that great artist. On
these coins we find both forms of the city name :
^ELE^TAilA (the termination being a variety of
the unexplained form on the earlier coins) and
EFE^TAION or EfE^TAIAN. Of the two, the form
with the initial sibilant probably represents the
native, the other the Hellenized form of the
name.
The hound is also at ' this time the type of
the neighbouring city of Eryx. This fact might
possibly be urged as evidence against the explana-
tion of the Segestan hound as the river Crimisus ;
but when we remember that Eryx was only a
few miles from Segesta, and that in the previous
period it had no special types of its own, we
shall be ready to admit that it may have imitated
the type of its more powerful neighbour. Its
own special type is now the
head of Aphrodite, which occurs ((^
on the didrachm— a very rare
11 ,. ,., Fig. 10. Eryx: Litra.
com — and also on the litra
(Fig. 10). The head on the latter is remarkable
for being represented facing— not, as was the custom
i
90 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
with many types at the end of this century, sHghtly
incHned to one side, but full to the front. One litra
of this class is eloquent of the close connexion
between Eryx and Segesta, for it reads EPYkINO on
one side and ^EFE^TAION on the other. Again,
on the didrachm already mentioned, the hound is
accompanied, just as at Segesta, by three ears of
barley. Another type found on the litrae (Fig. ii)
is a female figure pouring a
libation on an altar — and here
we see the influence of Himera.
Fig. II. Eryx : Litra. j^^ inscription on these Erycine
coins sometimes assumes the bizarre form IPVKAilB
— another relic of the Elymian dialect.
Some small places, mostly in the interior of the
island, produced in the course of the fifth century
a coinage which must be noticed, if only in a
cursory way. In the hills westward of Catana lay
the towns of Morgantina and Galaria. The former,
early in our present period, issued litrae with a
bearded male head and an ear of barley, inscribed
MORCANTINA (PI. VI. lo) ;
and of Galaria there are
early litrae or obols which
Fig. 12. Galaria: Obol? , .1 . .i • r -.
show that the wmes 01 its
district were important. One (Fig. 12) has an
archaic figure of Dionysus standing, holding a
ERYX. MINOR MINTS 91
cantharus and a vine-branch with a bunch of grapes ;
on the obverse is a figure of Zeus the Saviour
(£OTER) enthroned, holding his eagle before him.
The town name is abbreviated to CAAA on this
coin ; but on another, with Dionysus and a bunch
of grapes as its types, it appears as CAAAPINON.
Abacaenum, a small place near Tripi in the
north-east corner of the island, has a fairly large
coinage of litrae with a bearded laureate head (of
Zeus?) and a boar. The legend is divided between
obverse (ABAKAI) and reverse (NINON). In the very
centre of the island lay Henna {Castrogwvannt),
a small place, but one of the most sacred in Sicily.
Its litrae (Fig. 13) have on the reverse a female
figure holding a torch over
an altar— a modification of
the sacrificial scene already
familiar to us. The torch ^^^'^3. Henna: Litra.
seems to indicate the goddess Demeter. On the
obverse is the same torch-bearing figure in a
four-horse chariot. The inscription is HENNAION.
Farther west, Entella {Rocca d'Entelld) has litrae,
again with a female figure pouring a libation, and
on the reverse a river-god in the shape of a human-
headed bull. We also find a half-litra with a head
of Heracles in his Hon's skin on the obverse, and,
on the reverse, six pellets (the litra being worth
92 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
twelve ounces of bronze) and the name ENTEA.
The litrae reading AorrANAION (heads of Heracles
and of a young river-god) and IPANATAN (eagle
standing on a capital, and dolphin with shell-
fish, Fig. 14) belong to small
places, the first perhaps near
Mylae {Mtlazzo), the second
Fig. 14. Hipana: Litra. near Palermo. Finally, we
have charming little coins in the drachms and
half-drachms ot Stiela, the representative of the
/^^^ /Jta\ once important city of
fC^Pn V^S) Megara. The types are
^'^--**^ V^g^ l-]-jg \Y^2id of the young
Fig. 15. Stiela: Half-drachm, rfver-god, and the fore-
part of a man-headed bull (PI. VI. 11 and Fig. i5)\
Three Phoenician settlements claim our attention
at this point. First in importance is Panormus
(Palermo). The earliest coins of this place are to
all intents and purposes Greek coins; not only
are all the types Greek, but so also in most cases
is the legend. The Phoenicians in fact were entirely
devoid, at least at this period, of any but the most
mediocre artistic power ; and their artists, if indeed
they were not actually Greeks, certainly worked
under Greek influence. Further, as these coins
were meant for trade with Greek-speaking people,
^ A litra also shows the god sacrificing, with a sapling in his hand.
MINOR MINTS. PANORMUS
93
the Phoenicians wisely used types and inscriptions
which would be generally intelligible. Thus we find
the inscription PANOPMITIKON or PANOPMO. The
types of the early tetradrachms (Fig. i6) are a head
Fig. i6. Panormus: Tetradrachm.
of Apollo, and a victorious four-horse chariot. On
the smaller denominations we have among others
the type of Poseidon seated on a rock (Fig. 17) ;
while a hound (Fig. 18) — obviously copied from
Fig. 17. Panormus : Obol. Fig. 18. Panormus : Didrachm.
Eryx or Segesta, — the forepart of a man-headed bull
(Fig. 19), a head of a young river-god (Fig. 19),
and a youth riding on a man-
headed bull all seem to be
ways of representing the local
stream. An Oriental touch is
given by the symbols of the
murex-shell and the swastika on the didrachm
(Fig. 18). The Phoenician element shows itself also
Fig. 19.
Panormus: Litra.
94 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
in the inscription which — whatever it may mean —
is transHterated ziz. These letters figure largely
on the later Siculo-Punic coinage, and seem to
have some connexion with Panormus, whether
they be the Phoenician name of that city or not.
A less important Phoenician settlement was the
short-lived colony of Motya, the predecessor of
Lilybaeum, and thus of the modern Marsala.
The coins are largely imitated from those of
neighbouring mints suph as Segesta, Himera and
Acragas. The name of the town is given in Phoe-
nician letters as hmttia, while the Greek legend is
Fig. 20. MoTYA : Tetradrachm.
MOTVAION. The tetradrachms (Fig. 20) have the
Acragantine types; the smaller coins are chiefly
Fig. 21. MoTYA : Didrachm.
copied from Segesta (Fig. 21). But we also find
didrachms (PI. VI. 13) with the Himeraean anabates
MOTYA. SOLUS 95
on the obverse and a female head copied from
Syracuse on the reverse. Probably the earliest of
the Motyan coins is an obol (Fig. 22) which has
an eagle standing on a capital
with a snake in its beak, and,
on the reverse, a dolphin and
scallop-shell -the one type ^^^- ""• Motva: Obol.
inspired by Acragas, the other by Zancle. We
have already found the two combined at Hipana
(Fig. 14). A later obol (PL VI. 12) has a female
heiad in a wreath, and a female figure sacrificing
before an altar, with the Phoenician letters m a
and a shell in the field.
The third Phoenician city is Solus. Its earliest
issue (PI. VI. 14) is a didrachm, remarkable chiefly
as a foil to the didrachm of Selinus (PL VI. 6)
with exactly the same types (Heracles fighting
the bull, and a river-god sacrificing, with selinon-
leaf and bird in the field). One cannot help
feeling that the Soluntines were prompted by
the chance resemblance of their own inscription
(^OAONTINON) to that of Selinus (CEAINONTION)
to use the same types, and thus gain acceptance
for their coinage. But their artistic capacity evi-
dently fell short of their commercial ingenuity.
We have now brought our study of Sicilian \ ' ^^k.
coinage down to the end of what is called the
96 FROM HIMERA TO THE ASSINARUS
period of transition from archaism to the finest art.
To the historian of art, the stage of development
which we have examined is perhaps more fascinating,
because of its ever-changing hfe and vigour, than
the full bloom which is to follow. As we have
already indicated, there is little or no trace, at this
time, of the lack of restraint which arises out of
too great facility in technique, and which is the
first sign of coming decay.
CHAPTER III
THE FINE PERIOD
B.C. 413-346
The Athenian expedition to Sicily, melancholy
as were its consequences for Athens, gave a fresh
impetus to the activity of the city against which the
Athenian designs were chiefly directed. The prestige
acquired by the Syracusans was of far more value
than the spoils of war which fell into their hands.
The great event left its mark on the coinage in many
ways. First and most obvious was the reissue
of ten-drachm pieces, popularly called ' medallions,'
which, as Mr. Evans has proved, was directly
occasioned by the defeat of the Athenians. That
defeat took place at the River Assinarus, and the
festival which was founded to commemorate the
event, and which was first celebrated in the autumn
of 412, was known as the Assinaria. The great
concourse of people at the games would require
a fresh issue of coins ; and, in view of the import-
ance of the event, the memory of the Damareteia
H
98 THE FINE PERIOD
struck after the defeat of the Carthaginians must
have suggested that this new coinage should be
something on a larger scale than usual.
We have seen that Euaenetus was working out-
side Syracuse towards the end of our last period.
Whether this means that he was exiled from
Syracuse, or merely that he was at first absent
for some other reason, and then, owing to the
Athenians having made their head quarters at
Catana, was unable to return thence to Syracuse,
until peace was concluded between the two cities
in 409, we cannot say. But it appears that the
earliest of the large Syracusan coins of this period
are from the hand of a rival artist, Cimon. The
design of our sketch does not admit of a detailed
study of the complex question of the exact sequence
of the varieties of Syracusan decadrachms. We
must be content to notice the chief varieties only,
and not to concern ourselves as to the exact order
in which they were issued. The types of all
Cimon's decadrachms (Frontispiece, 1-3) are, on
the obverse, a female head, which from some of
his tetradrachms may be identified as that of the
nymph Arethusa; and, on the reverse, a victorious
chariot, with a panoply below it in the exergue.
The reverse type of all other decadrachms is the
same, but on the obverse those which are not
SYRACUSE : CIMON'S DECADRACHMS 99
from Cimon's hand (Frontispiece, 4-7) agree in
presenting the head of the goddess Persephone,
crowned with barley-leaves. A significant point,
in connexion with the great importance attaching
to these heads as works of art, is that the head
is always on the obverse side of the coin, and
the chariot on the reverse. This disposition of
types now becomes the general rule for all coins,
although there are many exceptions. The head
of the nymph Arethusa on one group of Cimon's
decadrachms (Frontispiece, i) is marked by a
greater restraint and severity of manner than is
apparent on his other works, and is also treated
in somewhat lower relief Its relation to the head
which we have already seen on a tetradrachm
by Euaenetus (PI. III. 10) is obvious. The nymph
wears her hair in a net, and her earring has
the form of three drops falling from a calyx.
The hair is treated with a certain amount of
exuberance at the sides of the head, but otherwise
the work is fairly reserved. In comparison with
Cimon's later types there is a lack of modelling in
the face; the curve of the profile taken from the
nose upwards and carried on over the frontlet is not
pleasing; and the angle made with the throat by
the excessively full chin — almost verging on double-
ness — is another point which affords excuse for
H 2
loo THE FINE PERIOD
fault-finding. If this is, as it seems to be, Cimon's
earliest decadrachm type, some of the weak points —
especially the flatness of the modelling — may be
due to the largeness of the scale, which was
strange to the artist. The signature will be found
on the frontlet of the head-band in the form , .. .
IM
On the reverse, interest centres at once in the
curious subsidiary type of the exergue. The line
dividing it from the main type is treated, so to
speak, architectonically. It is not a mere divisional
line, but almost a moulding running across the
field ; in fact, the exercise of a little imagination
will enable us to think of it as representing the
cornice of a pedestal on which the chariot-group
.stands. Closer examination of the exergue shows
that there runs across it, dividing it horizontally,
a sort of shelf or step. On this step are placed
to the left a shield, to the right a crested helmet ;
between them, and leaning against the step, is
a cuirass between a pair of greaves. And below
them all, save where the carelessness of the
striker has prevented its appearance, is the signifi-
cant word AOA A— 'prizes.' This panoply then —
the harness of a heavy-armed Greek soldier — is
one of the prizes offered in the games of which
the victorious chariot above it is the familiar
symbol. When we remember the enormous quantity
SYRACUSE: THE PANOPLY loi
of arms which must have been captured from the
seven thousand Athenian prisoners taken at the
Assinarus, we shall not find it hard to believe
that the prizes in the Assinarian games, celebrating
as they did a great military victory, should take
the form of a full suit of armour. It may be
that this type at the same time represents some
actual monument of the great victory, having a
trophy of arms carved on its pedestal. But there
can be no doubt that its main significance is
agonistic.
Cimon's later heads on his decadrachms (Frontis-
piece, 2, 3) are, technically regarded, a great
improvement on his first. But the comparatively
amiable model of his earlier type has given place
to a haughty beauty with a distinctly sneering ex-
pression. The relief is much higher, and there is
more modelling to be seen in the features. The
curve of the forehead is broken by allowing some
of the locks of hair to stray from under the frontlet.
The earring is a single drop, instead of the earlier
flower-like ornament. The whole design is more
restless, chiefly owing to the profusion of small
curling locks of hair; it is true that they are
hardly more numerous than on the earlier coins, but
they are so treated as to attract more attention.
Some of these coins are signed more than once :
I02 THE FINE PERIOD
on the frontlet, on the belly of a dolphin, along
the exergual line, or even in the field of the
reverse.
The other chief variety of the Syracusan
'medallion,' associated with the name of Euaenetus
(Frontispiece, 4-6), bears, as we have seen, on the
obverse a head of the goddess Persephone, or, as
she is called when named on Syracusan coins, Kora,
the Maiden-Goddess. From henceforward, the head
of Persephone becomes the most important of all
Syracusan coin-types. These singularly beautiful
decadrachms have been felt by most who have
considered the subject to be the finest of all Greek
coins ; but of course there are differences of opinion.
One writer finds the head lacking in expression,
and the treatment of the hair intensely artificial.
In this latter respect, however, there can be little
doubt that Cimon's head of Arethusa is more sug-
gestive of the friseur. Again, what one critic feels
to be lack of expression, another will see to be
due to the fact that Euaenetus has begun to break
away from the old tradition, which did not attempt
to disguise the individual model in a type. In
fact, this head of his is the first attempt of a
Syracusan artist to represent a truly ideal, type
— I speak only of the period of art in which it is
possible to distinguish such characters.
EUAENETUS. THE ' NEW ARTIST' 103
Closely allied to the work of Euaenetus — who is
represented by a large number of varieties of
'medaUions/ both signed and unsigned — is that of
an unknown master. Two specimens only of the
'medallion' by the 'New Artist' have come down
to us, one formerly in the collection of the Earl
of Ashburnham, now belonging to Mr. Thompson
Yates (Frontispiece, 7), the other (Fig. 23) in the
Fig. 23. Syracuse : Decadrachm by the 'New Artist.'
collection of Mr. Arthur Evans, who first made
the variety known, and established the fact that it
is not the work of Euaenetus. The differences,
it is true, are minute, especially as regards the
obverse; but the sum of the minute differences
makes a considerable impression. Whether the
head on the new medallion is a greater work of
art than the head by Euaenetus, some may be
inclined to doubt. That it is more striking, on first
impression, and that the face has a rare beauty
which is all its own, may be admitted; but a closer
I04 THE FINE PERIOD
examination brings out a serious weakness in the
treatment of some of the details. The tendency
towards excessive profusion of small curls which
is evident in Cimon's work is here carried to
such a degree that the curve of the head from
forehead to back hair is entirely masked by small
curling tresses, and the hair lying close on the
top of the head, which gives great opportunities
for a beautiful contrast between masses of hair and
free locks, is completely hidden. Compare a head
by Euaenetus, with its careful distinction between the
soft hair radiating from the crown, the long tresses
caught up from the temples or bound up at the back
of the head, and the few small curls which break
without obscuring the contour, and it will be difficult
to deny that the ' New Artist ' is lacking in one of
the essentials of a great master, the power of self-
restraint. On the reverse, the team of horses is
keeping perfect step, their heads are level, all the
lines are almost perfectly parallel. In this respect
the artist stands apart from both Cimon and
Euaenetus. Little fault can be found with his
treatment of that difficult subject, the horses' legs ;
the other artists, in attempting to bring more variety
into the arrangement of the team, came to grief, for
it has rightly been complained that the position in
which they have placed the hind-legs of the
SYRACUSE: THE ^NEW ARTIST' 105
second horse is not only ungraceful but impos-
sible. Let us note but one more variation from
the usual type : the inscription AOAA is transferred
from the bottom to a position on the left, under
the exergual line, where it escapes destruction.
Magnificent decadrachms, such as these which we
have described, continued to be issued down to
about 360 B. c. ; those of Euaenetus are certainly
later than those of Cimon, and the decadrachm of
the 'New Artist' seems to be more or less inter-
mediate between the two. We have agreed that
this intermediate type is not from the hand of
Euaenetus; and if we are wrong in maintaining
that its creator is not in all respects a greater master
than that artist, it is satisfactory to remember that
the authorities of the Syracusan mint were of the
same mind, since they did not continue to use it.
The issue of the decadrachms did not of course
do away with the necessity for the ordinary coinage ;
and although there is some reason to suppose that
soon after the beginning of the fourth century
tetradrachm issues became somewhat scarce, we
have a certain number of these pieces which must
belong to the closing years of the fifth and to
the beginning of the fourth centuries. First in
importance comes Cimon's masterpiece — a work
immeasurably superior to his decadrachms — the
io6 THE FINE PERIOD
tetradrachm with the facing head of Arethusa
(PL VI. 15). The nymph, whose name APEOO^A is
inscribed outside the border, is represented with her
head sHghtly incHned towards the left; her long
flowing hair fills the field, and dolphins dart in
and out among the tresses. The signature of the
artist KIMAN is inscribed on the frontlet of the band
which she wears on her head. On the reverse is
the usual chariot; but Victory, instead of flying,
steps on the head of the nearest horse. Below the
fore-feet of the horses is a fallen goal-column, which
has been upset in the contest. In the exergue is
an ear of barley. As an example of complicated
and delicate design in low relief, this reverse ranks
higher than anything else produced even by
a Syracusan artist. Enthusiasm has never been
lacking in appreciation of the beauty of the
obverse. One fact may without hesitation be
admitted — it is the most charming of all the front-
face types produced not only in Sicily, but also
around the coasts of the Aegean, as at Amphipolis
and Aenus, at Clazomenae and Rhodes. But one
fault it has, nevertheless, in common with all such
types. Since the first use of a coin is, after all, to
circulate as a medium of exchange, no scheme should
be adopted for the type which makes it unsuitable
for that purpose. Coins inevitably become worn in
PAGE
T. Geia: litra 7 '^^^^^.* ^3
^^^^
3. Selinus: tetradrachm (obv.) .... ^^^^^^^K* ^4
4- (rev.) ^^Bl^* ^"^
5- » obol ' . . 86
6. „ didrachm 85
7. Segesta „ 86
8. „ tetradrachm 88
9. „ didrachm 86, 88
10. Morgantina: litra 9°
11. Stiela: drachm 92
12. Motya: obol 95
13. „ didrachm 94
14. Solus : didrachm. Berlin {formerly in the Imhoof-Blumer Col-
lection) 95
15. Syracuse : tetradrachm (Cimon) 106
16. „ „ ( „ obv.) . . - . .107
17. „ „ (Euaenetus) 108
io6 r^
tetr? Vrethusa
., \PEOO^A is
border cnted with her
'iiKxl lo\ left; her long
the f: dolphins dart in
g the W'3TAJS7he signature of the
li inscr >ntlet of the band
^ wears )n the^VfSv^^f^'ls
^^ . ■ • ^ Below life
gre ; *-*h-*hf>r^e ^•' ^'ro;y^t,ilib^i^^. whi|i
MiS • In the e}^^*?^-*s
oQ relief t i i l^iiiif f j'^niJAesipAfti fc^
r se produced , even ., fyv'
^ ^ .Irtish. . Enthusiasm htttfoBiBB^ er„ bc<jp
^'' ■^:•h<1tI3^ing <!ff all the fror^-
8oi t3til0n9su3) ^ ,, „ »^i
; in Sicilv. but also
•nhipolis
•-. ^. 'jii^
ilVsudh'
.::Li ail, to
"me should-
^_ ,-, ,. -. -...._ .L unsuitable
for thnt ni •vit:ib]v herome worn in
Plate VI
SYRACUSE: CIMON^S ARETHUSA 107
rubbing against each other. By all means should
they be made beautiful ; but the design chosen should
be one of which the essential characters are not
immediately destroyed by wear. A profile type so
much depends on the mere outline for its beauty,
that it may retain its quality long after much of
the relief is worn away; but the first points of
a facing type to suffer are the nose, lips and
forehead, so that the most beautifully modelled face
is rapidly reduced to something like a caricature.
A facing head on a coin is the most difficult of all
types for an artist to produce, and we may be
grateful to the Greeks of the 'fine period' for
showing us what they could do in this way; never-
theless had they avoided the experiment, no one
could have accused them of undue timidity.
Cimon's head of Arethusa seems to have enjoyed
an extraordinary vogue, if we may judge by the fact
that it was imitated on coins of Larissa in Thessaly,
and even by the Persian Satraps who governed
Cilicia. Another tetradrachm by Cimon (PL VI. 16)
represents the head of Arethusa in profile, as on
those decadrachms which, according to Mr. Evans,
belong to his second style, and were issued about
410 B.C.
Among the other tetradrachms of this period is
one — an exceedingly rare, if not unique, coin —
io8 THE FINE PERIOD
evidently from the school of Euaenetus, and possibly
from his own hand, although unsigned (PI. VI. 17).
Its style is exactly similar to that of the deca-
drachms of this master, and it was doubtless issued
at the same time as one group of those coins
which, like the tetradrachm, is distinguished by
a small pellet under the chin of the goddess
(Frontispiece, 6).
A third very remarkable tetradrachm of this period
(PI. VII. i) introduces us to a new type. A superb
facing head of the goddess Athena, in a richly
decorated helmet with triple crest, is the type of
the reverse. The name of the artist Eukleidas is
inscribed (EYKAEIAA) on the helmet. The same die
which was used to strike the obverse of this coin
was also used for another tetradrachm (Fig. 24), with
Fig. 24. Syracuse : Tetradrachm.
a beautiful head which Mr. Evans has interpreted
as that of Victory; the position of the earring
shows that the head should be regarded as leaning
forwards, as it would be if the figure were repre-
SYRACUSE: EUKLEIDAS; PARME . . . 109
sented flying, 'the earring in fact enables us to
supply the wings \'
The artist who signs himself PAPME produced
coins (PI. VII. 2) very much inferior to those which
we have already described, and is probably to be
dated fairly late in the present period.
In addition to the signed coins, there are a
number which are unsigned. One of the best of
these (PI. VII. 3) has a fine, somewhat severe head,
and varies the usual arrangement of the dolphins
by making one of them dart out from behind the
neck. This must belong to quite the beginning
of the present period, if not to the end of the
preceding.
The smaller silver coinage of this time need
not detain us long. The reverse of the drachm
(PI. VII. 5) represents a hero, whose name we learn
from some of the specimens to be Leukaspis
(AEVKA^PIC)— the warrior of the 'white shield.'
Legend said that he was a Sicanian hero slain by
Heracles. He is represented nude, a crested helmet
on his head, fighting with spear and large shield;
behind him is his altar, before him a ram (evidently
' A glance at PI. II will show that many of the earlier female
heads on Syracusan coins, when rightly placed, are inclined
forwards, though at a smaller angle than the head before us.
no THE FINE PERIOD
the animal sacrificed to him) lying on its back, ready
for immolation.
The date of the first introduction of gold into the
Syracusan coinage is a matter of dispute. On one
view, it dates back to some time between 440 and
420 B.C. The more usually accepted theory post-
pones the introduction of gold until the period of
the Athenian siege, or later. We may describe
here the earliest issues of Syracusan gold without
definitely committing ourselves to either theory.
The larger coins — and even these are very minute,
weighing at the most about 19 grains troy — show
on the obverse (PI. VII. 6) a head of young Heracles
wearing the lion's skin, as we have already seen
him at Camarina. The reverse is curiously remi-
niscent of the archaic silver coinage; here again
we have the female head within a small circular
depression placed in the middle of an incuse
square. This reversion is a piece of conscious
archaism; it was evidently thought that, while the
execution of the first piece of gold struck by the
Syracusan mint should be on the level of existing
art, there should be something in the coin to remind
men of the earliest issues of the city.
A still smaller gold coin (about 11 grains troy)
is a little later than the one we have just de-
SYRACUSE: GOLD INTRODUCED iii
scribed. Its types (PI. VII. 9) are the helmeted head
of Athena, and the aegis of the goddess fringed
with snakes, and having in
its centre the mask of the
Gorgon. A yet smaller de-
nomination (Fig. 25) has, Fig. 25.
with a similar obverse, a Syracuse : Gold.
wheel in the centre of an incuse square^again
an archaism. The chariot- wheel as a type was
already known to the Syracusans from the silver
obol in the earliest period of their coinage
(PL I. II).
The difficulty of ascertaining the date of these
little coins is partly due to their small size, partly
to the absence of connexion between their types
and the types of the silver. When we come to the
next group of gold coins, the question of date is
easier. These are pieces (PI. VII. 4, 7) with a female
head, presumably of Arethusa, and an exquisite de-
sign of Heracles wrestling with the Nemean lion.
Some of them are signed by the artists Cimon and
Euaenetus ; but the head on all of them approximates
to the type affected by Cimon on his silver deca-
drachms, in other words, to the head of Arethusa.
These little coins were worth twenty drachms or
a hundred litrae of silver. A gold piece equivalent
to the silver decadrachm was also issued at the
112 THE FINE PERIOD
same time; the types (PL VII. 8) are the head of
a young river-god, and an unbridled prancing horse.
Such an emblem of liberty can hardly have first
been placed on the coins after the beginning of the
tyranny of Dionysius in 405, although if it had^
already been issued, the tyrant would have good
reason not to discontinue it. We may therefore
accept the date of about 408, suggested by
Mr. Evans' recent investigations, for the issue of
these pieces ; if indeed we assume the first gold coins
to have been issued after the Athenian disaster, it
is impossible to put it earlier. Yet another smaller
gold coin exists \ with a female head on the
obverse, and the trident of Poseidon on the reverse.
This piece, which seems to have been worth half
the preceding denomination, has a square incuse
impression on the reverse, a feature also found on
some of the larger gold coins. We must not linger
over the types of these issues; but it is worth
mentioning that an engraved sard, found near
Catania, bears a design almost absolutely identical
with Euaenetus* representation of the group of
Heracles and the lion. If any evidence were needed
to prove that Euaenetus, and for that matter Cimon
* It is necessary to observe that the genuineness of two specimens
of this coin which have come into the market of late years has been
disputed.
SYRACUSE: BRONZE 113
and many other Greek die-engravers, were also gem-
cutters, this little sard, not to mention a gem signed
by Phrygillus, supplies it.
Gold was not the only new metal introduced into
the Syracusan coinage during the present period;
we find also bronze coins, which are even more
difficult to date than the gold. The earliest may
indeed be earlier than the Athenian expedition.
They have the types of a female head, and a squid,
and are sometimes marked with three pellets, show-
ing that they are pieces of three ounces, or quarters
of the litra. But such bronze pieces must, as their
weights show, have been merely a token coinage,
circulating at a conventional value. The type is
significant; we have already seen that the squid
was used for the original silver litra, that denomina-
tion being a part of the native system with which
the Greek system was harmonized. It is therefore
entirely appropriate that the squid should be placed
on the first coin struck in bronze, which was pre-
eminently — at any rate before the Greek cities
became entirely dominant over all the island— the
native medium of exchange and the standard metal.
Other bronze coins of the early period have a star
in the centre of an incuse square, associating them
with the earliest issue of gold; or a wheel with
two dolphins between the spokes (PL VII. 10).
114
THE FINE PERIOD
Later than these coins — and by some even brought
down to the age of Timoleon — is the large bronze
coin representing the htra (Fig. 26.) The obverse
has a head of Athena in a helmet of the kind
Fig. 26. Syracuse : Bronze Litra.
generally called Corinthian. On the reverse,
between two dolphins, is a star-fish (convention-
ally represented by an eight-pointed star of which
the rays are connected by a sort of webbing).
The fabric of these big bronze coins is very remark-
able, and characteristic of the period. It is difficult
to give an idea of it in words, but no one can fail
to notice the strongly sloped edges, and the marks
left at two diametrically opposite points of the cir-
cumference by the ' seam ' which once ran round
the whole of the almost globular mass of cast
metal on which the dies were impressed \
We must leave aside the remaining bronze coins
of this period, only stopping to notice the preva-
lence of marine types on them. But we have not
^ See Introduction, p. 4.
LATER COINS OF DIONYSIUS 115
yet done with the silver coinage. To suppose that
Dionysius entirely ceased to issue tetradrachms is,
as we have seen, to take an extreme view of the
case; that he struck but few must be admitted,
because we know that he was often in pecuniary
straits. We may regard as one of the latest of
his tetradrachm-issues a coin (PL VII. 12) which
represents the head of the goddess Persephone
with long flowing hair, crowned with a wreath of
barley-leaves, a full ear of the plant standing out
over the forehead. The advanced style of this head
— we shall see something like it on the coins of
Agathocles — would suggest an even later date. It
is true that the earyng is of the coiled shape
characteristic of the tetradrachms of the period
preceding the decadrachms; but this can hardly in
itself be regarded as a proof that the coin is early.
The financial troubles of Dionysius seem to be
strikingly illustrated by a piece of bronze, struck
from the dies of a decadrachm of the style of
Euaenetus. On this piece, which has been pub-
lished by Mr. Evans, there still remain traces of
a white metal which is certainly not silver and is
probably, though not certainly, tin. If this is an
ancient forgery — and we can see no reason to doubt
its antiquity — we are confronted with two alterna-
tives. Either it was issued by the mint authorities,
I 2
ii6 THE FINE PERIOD
or it was the work of an artist working on his
own account. The comparatively good style seems
to point to the former alternative; and we are
actually told by Aristotle that Dionysius issued
'tin tetradrachms/ If he issued tin tetradrachms
he may have issued decadrachms in the same
metal; and, as his needs became more pressing,
have contented himself and tried to content his
subjects with tin coins of which all but the surface-
plating was bronze ! The evidence for this explana-
tion, which is due to Mr. Evans, is, however, of
a somewhat unsatisfactory nature, and we may wait
for further specimens to be found before deciding
whether we have to do with an undoubted monu-
ment of Dionysius' ingenuity.
The general dearth of money, so far as it was
actually issued by the Greek cities of Sicily, must
have been considerable in the latter half of the
reign of Dionysius the Elder, and during the time
that his son occupied the throne. Thanks to the
Carthaginians and to the elder tyrant himself,
nearly all the important Greek states had ceased to
enjoy an independent existence. But the gap must
have been filled by the coins known as Siculo-
Punic, as well as by the two great currencies of
Corinth and of Athens. The influence of the Corin-
thian currency left on the Syracusan coinage a mark
SYRACUSE: BASE COINAGE; DION 117
which we can still recognize. For there exist
certain coins (Fig. 27) struck at Syracuse, probably
Fig. 27. Syj^acuse : ' Pegasus.'
at the time of its deliverance by Dion in B.C. 357,
which in types and weight exactly resemble the
' Pegasi ' of Corinth ; but the letter koppa which
marks the Corinthian coins disappears from under
the Pegasus of the reverse, and the legend ^YPA-
kO^ION (with the short 6) appears round the head
of Athena on the obverse.
To Dion also it is possible that we must ascribe
the introduction of a new metal, or rather variety
of metal, into the Syracusan currency. This was
electrum, a mixture of gold and silver. In the days
when coinage was first invented in Asia Minor, the
mixture was used as it was found native in the
sands of the river Pactolus and in other places,
and the percentage of gold varied very considerably
in different corns. In the money with which we
have now to deal, the mixture was evidently made
artificially, and the various coins are more homo-
geneous. There can be little doubt that the object
ii8 THE FINE PERIOD
of issuing this unsatisfactory metal was to enable
the authorities to rate it rather too highly, although
not so highly as gold, in relation to silver. The
ordinary person cannot discover the exact propor-
tion of silver in a piece of electrum, and therefore,
so long as the electrum is not rated as pure gold,
he cannot complain that he is being cheated.
These first electrum coins of Syracuse— some of
which most authorities, it is true, give to the time
of Timoleon — are pretty pieces with types connected
with Apollo and Artemis. On the largest coin
(Fig. 28) we have simply the heads of the two
Fig. 28. Syracuse : Electrum.
deities. On a smaller denomination, the half of
the other, we have the head of Apollo on the
obverse, his sacred tripod on the reverse (PI. VII.
14). The head and lyre of Apollo furnish the
types to the quarter (PI. VII. 11), and a still smaller
coin has a female head and sepia (PI. VII. 13).
The ApoUine types of the three higher denomina-
tions are eminently suitable to Dion, who is also
represented by other coins with the head and
SYRACUSE: DION. ACRAGAS 119
tripod of Apollo, struck on the island of Zacyn-
thus, where he prepared his expedition to Syracuse.
The space which we have devoted to Syracuse
in this chapter is by no means out of proportion
to the importance of her coinage in this, the finest
period of her art. We shall find beautiful coins
at other cities, but nothing like the same mass of
coinage, or the same sustained artistic effort. Indeed,
many cities with mints of splendid promise were
swallowed up by the barbarian conqueror or the
rapacious Syracusan tyrant; and after 404 there
were, if we except Syracuse, practically no Greek
cities of any importance issuing coins in the island.
The most important piece in all the Acragantine
series, and one of the most superb products of the
die-engraver's art, is the famous silver decadrachm
(PI. VII. 15), of which only three, or at the most
four, specimens are known to exist. The eagle, the
sober type of the early coins, is glorified into a pair
of birds, standing on the body of a hare, their prey,
which lies on its back on the rocks. One bird bends
to tear the animal, the other lifts its head and
shrieks. In the field is a grasshopper or locust.
Numismatists have always quoted, in connexion
with this type, the fine passage in the Agamemnon
of Aeschylus describing the omen sent to the Greek
kings : —
I20 THE FINE PERIOD
How they who share the Achaean throne, the twain consorted
princes of Hellas* chivalry, wielding their spears of vengeance,
were sped unto the Teucrian land by birds of mettle, the one
black, the other argent behind. In station manifest they alighted
hard by the palace, the kingly fowl before the kings of the fleet,
devouring a hare's body big with her brood, on the spear hand,
where they foreslowed her running \
Like the eagle with a serpent (which we find on
the reverse), an eagle tearing a hare was regarded
as an omen of victory. Whether the type of our
coin has reference to some particular event, as we
shall find is the case with a similar eagle and
serpent type of the time of Timoleon, it is difficult
to say. In any case such sights must have been
fairly common in a country where eagles were
numerous.
The reverse of the same decadrachm represents
a male figure nearly nude (probably the personifica-
tion of the river Acragas), driving a chariot; above
is the inscription AI<PArA£, and an eagle flying
away with a serpent in its claws; below is the
crab, the city emblem.
Although this coin bears no representation of the
human head, few will be found to deny that its
types, as compositions suited for a coin, must rank
with the finest work of the Syracusan engravers ^.
^ Aesch. Agam. vv. 109 foil. ; Warr's translation.
^ There exists a series of shallow drinking-cups, generally
coming from Italy, of which the chief ornament is a central
ACRAGAS: THE DECADRACHM 121
The decadrachm is only the finest of a fine series
of coins. There are two main varieties of the tetra-
drachm. On one, the types are generally similar
to those of the decadrachm; but we find some of
them marked with the names ^TPATAN (PL VII.
18) or ^lAANO^ — probably the masters of the
mint, — and there are a variety of symbols, such as
the familiar crab, or a small figure of Scylla. The
artist who used the latter symbol signs his name
MYP on the line of the exergue below the horses'
feet. The other group of tetradrachms may perhaps
be dated somewhat earlier; for some of them (the
earliest) have the comparatively simple type of a
single eagle tearing a hare, and on the reverse
a crab with a sea-fish^ (PI. VII. 16). The link
medallion, evidently made from an impression of a Greek coin.
The coins thus represented are decadrachms of Euaenetus and the
like. These vases in clay presuppose the existence of similar
vases in metal, in which the medallion would probably be an actual
coin let into the bottom of the bowl. M. Theodore Reinach has
shown that it is in all probability such a bowl as this, with one of
the Acragantine decadrachms for its central ornament, that must
account for a statement by Pliny, who mentions a chaser in silver
of the name of Acragas : ' a hunting-scene by Acragas, chased on
drinking-cups, won great celebrity.* Acragas is unique as a man's
name; the artist is otherwise unknown; and nothing is more
probable than that Pliny or his authority took the name of the
river-god for an artist's signature.
^ Of the perch family; a Serranus according to Mr. Lydekker,
Polyprion cernium (' stone-bass ') according to E. v. Martens.
122 THE FINE PERIOD
between these and the later group is given by the
magnificent tetradrachm with the group of the two
eagles on its obverse, and the crab and Scylla type
on its reverse. The specimen formerly in the Ash-
burnham collection (PL VII. 17) is one of the most
charming of Greek coins, although the design of
the reverse is not a composition of the first rank.
The artist has made a captivating figure out of
Scylla, but has not had the courage to reduce
the emblem of the city to a suitable size; the
result is that neither half of the type attains its
full significance, and the two do not harmonize
into one whole.
We must omit the smaller silver coins, noting
only that on the drachm the artist has given the sem-
blance of a human face to the carapace of the crab.
Nor need we linger over the bronze coins, which
all have as types the eagle and the crab represented
with various modifications. The prettiest of the
smaller coins of this period is a gold piece (PI. VII.
19) with the eagle and crab and the name of the
magistrate Silanos (CIAANOC).
As was to be expected, the coinage of Acragas
seems to have come to a sudden end when the
city was destroyed by the Carthaginians in 406.
The inhabitants when they returned to their deso-
lated homes were content to use their old coins.
8.
9.
10.
II.
12.
13-
14.
15-
16.
17-
18.
19.
PLATE VII
PAGE
Syracuse : tetradrachm (Eukleidas, rev.) io8
„ „ (Parme . . ., rev.)
109
(rev.) .
109
„ gold (100 litrae) .
III
„ drachm
109
„ gold (20 litrae)
no
„ „ (100 litrae)
III
„ ,, (50 litrae)
112
„ „ (12 litrae)
IIT
„ bronze (rev.)
113
„ electrum
118
„ tetradrachm
115
„ electrum
118
j> )j
118
Acragas: decadrachm. Munich
119
„ tetradrachm .
121
„ „ Formerly m the Ashhurnham CoUeciion
122
•> }, ........
121
gold .
.
.
122
^0
122
given by the
radrac the two
Scylta type
formerly in the Ash-
':-. although the design ol
HO :r} of the first raiik.
'^r.. ,-^^^./t). ^g,, figun* put i»{
5e<" .... i'5"T) ,>onmo-p Juc^'
111 . ■•'■•^^- • ^" - '^
%' <?.; %
All ^^'^^^'^)i-^{^8 attains ift
,iii i' ooi) „ „ . -r
lun o^o§^i harmoniz;^
iftfc> (3fiililai) „ , .Q
^^W' lAaJler siTvci^^miiLs, 'noting^
c^^jy that, on .the, drachm the artist f4ii>8i^|i««n the sen?f^
l»in( -human- face, to the cAra|W??^of th^* craff.'
sji . " tt 41
]^9r nc: 'inq:er over j\lt{Miubi:Mia^bifife«>]i:%BswiAcij
^ihave as ts] ^»](- and thiPl^S^'^^pre^ente^'
vqriou.^ 1 hf' prettiest q} tlxei
f thk :>fe^^(Ph VIR'
ame of the
Acr-agas
•hen the
city . cirthaginians in 406,
The inhabii urned to their deso-
lated homes wen use their old coins.
Plate VII
ACRAGAS. GELA 123
We shall find them issuing new money in the next
period.
Like its neighbour Acragas, Gela enjoyed but
a brief existence during this period, for it too was
destroyed by the barbarian in 405. Immediately
after the Athenian disaster there followed a few
years of great prosperity, resulting in an increased
output of coins. To this time belong a variety of
types, which we shall not attempt to arrange in
exact chronological order.
In the first place we find the old types treated
in a fresh and highly-developed style. A fine
tetradrachm (PL VIII. i) shows the horses in
high action; above the chariot an eagle flies
away holding a serpent in its talons, as on the
Acragantine decadrachm. A stalk of barley in
the exergue of the obverse bears witness to the
fertility of the territory of Gela, as does the grain
in the field of the reverse. The features of the
bull-god have become more humane, and the horn
is made small and hardly perceptible. No doubt
some of the savagery of aspect which is perceptible
in the earlier representation of this river-god is due
to the archaic artist's lack of skill in combining
the human and the animal forms; nevertheless we
feel that he conceived of the river-god as a dreadful
monster, whereas his successor (as we have already
124 THE FINE PERIOD
seen from the tetradrachm with the young male
head struck towards the end of the last period)
thinks of him as a benign and fertilizing power.
The type of the horseman, which we found on
the earlier didrachms, is now developed into a more
elaborate scheme (PL VIII. 2); armed with a lance,
he strikes downward at a fallen hoplite over whom
he rides. Holm ingeniously finds in this type an
allusion to the part which the Geloan troopers
took in the contest with Athens; for we know
that the Geloans helped the Syracusans with
cavalry, whereas the force of the Athenians was
strongest in hoplites.
Of gold there are three denominations, the
weights of which are to each other as 6:4:3. The
two heavier both have the forepart of the river-bull
as one of their types. On the heaviest piece
(27 grains) the other type is a helmeted horseman
(Fig. 29); on the next denomination (PI. VIII. 4) it
is the head of the goddess Sosi-
polis, already known to us from
earlier tetradrachms. The smallest
Fig. 29. Gela : Gold. ^[^^^^ which is extremely rare,
has a similar head; its other type is the forepart
of a bridled horse. We note, in fact, that Gela
lays rather more stress on the horseman-type than
do other cities.
GELA. CAMARINA 125
A type which is new to the Geloan coinage ap-
pears on the silver litra and on some of the small
bronze pieces struck at this time; it is the head of
Heracles, bearded on the bronze, youthful and
wearing the lion's skin on the silver (PL VIII. 6).
The river-god Gelas is also sometimes represented
(PI. VIII. 6) as a bearded head wearing a wreath
of barley-leaves. But the prettiest of the bronze
coins is the piece with the head of Demeter, facing
and crowned with barley-
leaves. The two types just
described are combined in the
piece illustrated in Fig. 30. ^^^- 3o. Gela : Bronze.
We have already mentioned that the early
chariot-types of Camarina have been supposed to
commemorate the victory of Psaumis. Whether
this be so or not, the Pindaric odes which cele-
brate Psaumis are interesting to the student of the
coins issued by Camarina in the years imme-
diately preceding the removal of its inhabitants to
Syracuse in 405. Of the two the more important
is the fifth Olympian, with its intimate allusions to
the local cult of Athena, the nymph Camarina, her
sacred lake, and the rivers Hipparis and Oanis.
The tetradrachms (some of them signed by the
engraver Exakestidas) have now a beardless head
of Heracles, and the style of the horses is more
126 THE FINE PERIOD
spirited and varied than on the eariier coins (PL
VIII. 3). In the exergue of some specimens we see
two amphorae, jars for wine, or perhaps, as Athena
drives the chariot, for oil. They are very probably
prize vases. The signature of E^AKE^TIAAC is
written on the exergual line. The most interesting
pieces, however, are the didrachms with a horned
head of the river-god Hipparis, and a representation
of the nymph Camarina borne on a swan over
her lake, while the wind inflates her veil and the
fish leap around. On some specimens (probably
the later) the river-god's head is represented
facing (PI. VIII. 8); on others it is in profile, and
on these his name (\PPAP\Z) is sometimes given.
The waves of his stream are treated conventionally
so as to form a border, and a fish is seen on each
side of the head. Some of these didrachms are
signed by Euaenetus, others by Exakestidas.
The drachms (PI. VIII. 5), half-drachms (PI. VIII. 9),
and litrae represent the head of the nymph Camarina
(l<AMAPINA), sometimes facing, sometimes in profile,
Fig. 31. Camarina : Oeol. Fig. 32. Camarina : Litra.
in a manner evidently inspired by the art of Syracuse ;
a flying Victory (Figs. 31, 32, as on the earliest coins
CAMARINA. HIMERA 127
of the city), a head of Athena (Fig. 32), and a swan
(Fig. 33) are also types to be found on the smaller
coins.
On the bronze, which
was issued for some few
years before the trans-
Fig. 33. Camarina : Obol.
portation, we find types
associated with the goddess Athena : — her head, the
head of the Gorgon, an owl holding a lizard. And
to Camarina also probably belongs a little gold coin
(PL VIII. 7), with a head of Athena on the obverse,
and two olive-leaves with berries and the letters l<A
on the reverse. The shortening of the inscription
leaves us in doubt whether this coin may not belong
to Catana ; but the types certainly favour the attribu-
tion to Camarina.
At Himera — to transfer ourselves to the northern
coast— the old type continued in use for the tetra-
drachms (PI. VIII. 10), subject of course to the
modifications caused by increased skill on the part
of the engraver. Himera too has its artist's signa-
ture; for the engraver, who introduced, doubtless
from Syracuse, a motive which we have already
described under that city, signs his name MAI . .
on the tablet held by the flying Victory ^
^ On the British Museum specimen (PI. VIII. lo) the signature
is obliterated ; Mr. Evans has read it on a specimen at Paris.
128 THE FINE PERIOD
Of the smaller silver coins, one (PL VIII. ii) has
a head of young Heracles in his lion's skin, and a
figure of Athena standing to the front, in a fighting
attitude, with raised spear and shield. Another is
important for the head of Cronus (l<P0N02:) which
it bears. We have already noticed the occurrence
of Pelops on an earlier coin, and the combination
seems to confirm the suggested connexion with
Olympia. But we cannot say whether the Cronium
which we know to have existed at Himera was
called into being by some special relations with
the Cronium at Olympia, or whether it existed
independently, so that it was a mere coincidence
that suggested to the Himeraeans the type of the
founder of the Olympian games.
The Himeraean bronze coins are very varied in
type. The most interesting represents the youth
whom we have already seen on the earlier litra
riding on a he-goat, and blowing a conch-shell. The
inscription which accompanies the flying Victory
on the reverse is usually IMEPA or IMEPAIAN, but
also sometimes 1<IMAPA. This last form — which
suggests that the aspirate in the name was very
harsh — lends some slight colour to the notion that
the fearful wild fowl that formed the type of the
litra (above, p. 68) was a variety of the Chimaera.
That monster is usually depicted as a lion with a
HIMERA— THERMAE 129
serpent for its tail, and a goat's head springing out
of its back ; but the SiciHan artist was quite equal
to creating a local form. But what should the
Chimaera be doing at Himera? Here again an
answer has been suggested ; the Greeks connected
the Chimaera with subterranean volcanic agencies,
and, if the type of Himera is the Chimaera, it may
well be related to the hot springs of Thermae.
These hot baths became the site of a new city.
For in 407, the year following the destruction by
the Carthaginians of the old city of Himera, the
remainder of the unfortunate inhabitants were al-
lowed by the conquerors to settle at the springs.
Coins were issued from the new mint for a few
years, and then it seems to have been closed until
the third century. The tetradrachm — the genuine-
ness of which has been suspected — bears a victorious
chariot (thus carrying on the type of Himera) and
the head of a nymph surrounded by dolphins. The
didrachm (PI. VHI. 12) has a head of the goddess
Hera, wearing a crown, with a dolphin in the field
behind ; on the reverse is a figure of the youthful
Heracles, seated on his lion's skin on a rock, and
holding his club; his bow and quiver are behind
him. The heads of the same two deities also
occur on some of the bronze coins. All the pieces
ahke are inscribed OEPMITAN.
K
I30 THE FINE PERIOD
Messana, until its destruction by Himilco in 396,
continued to use tetradrachms with the types of the
mule-car and hare. We have already mentioned
(p. 71) Mr. Evans' theory that the introduction of the
symbol of the two dolphins in the exergue dates from
425, and hinted at the objection that the treatment
of the chariot-group on many specimens retains a
well-known archaic feature, the pair of mules being
indicated by merely doubling the outlines of one.
On the other hand other tetradrachms (PL VIII.
13, 14) show both the animals fully delineated,
walking slowly or stepping high. A variety of
pretty symbols, such as the hippocamp (PI. VIII.
14), the head of the nymph Pelorias, the head of
young Pan (PL VIII. 13), a barley-plant with three
ears, are introduced in connexion with the hare-
type. The most remarkable type, however, of this
period, or (judging from the early style of the
mules) perhaps of the end of the preceding period,
is found on the reverse of a unique tetradrachm of
the 'two-dolphins' class (PL VIII. 15). The young
god Pan (PAN) is resting on a rock, on which he has
thrown his fawn's skin. But for the horns on his
forehead, he is purely human in form. In his left
hand he holds his crooked throwing-stick, while
with his right he caresses a hare which stands
on its hind-legs before him. The artist has not
PLATE VIII
1. Gela: tetradrachm '^■^^'123
2. „ didrachm. Berlin {formerly in the I mhoof- Blunter Col-
lection) 124
3. Camarina: tetradrachm (Exakestidas) 126
4. Gela: gold 124
5. Camarina: drachm (obv.) 126
6. Gela: litra 125
7. Camarina : gold 127
8. „ didrachm 126
9. J, hall-drachm 126
10. Himera : tetradrachm (Mai . . .) 127, 147
11. „ obol 128
12. Thermae: didrachm 129
13. Messana: tetradrachm 130
14. „ „ Ward Collection 130
15. „ „ (rev.). Berlin {formerly in the Imhoof-
Blumer Collection) . 130
16. „ drachm 131
17. Naxos: tetradrachm. Naples 131
18. „ half-drachm 132
M
cructioi iimilco in 396, ^
SSI
dsi
dsi
dsr
8^1
: ready mentioned
^le introduction of the
il#^3>fAJ4^^ the exergue dates from
Uiat the treatment
....... iiv m^mm^M'}i
\o":) ^*m«\a->poi\w5i 1^ m ^^ft««vn\3, Kt'^»^j /^.mrfa^iijnules -feeing
(jtOt\'»\
^ctradrac}ft^qs:/Bpp .J,rin.
.vcfo) rarfoBTib :
-"i
0£t
you 11
ears
lypc; 1
ap'(Pl. -VlIL
• • Ixirlcy-^int witlrlliree
. mdoRibib :9Bfm3rfT .st
duced .in ,contt.^^5^3ivijg;^^4ij|f ^^a: :-
e-mi/st*^^^" h type, however, oPthis
-vtteL Trorii the early style oT the
d (A tli^^?^^ccdmg jp^Hod,
hich he has
; left
iwing-stick, while
Plate VIII
MESSANA. NAXOS 131
been able to bring himself to reduce the city symbol
to its proper size, so that it is disproportionately
large in relation to the figure of the god.
Other Messanian types (PI. VIII. 16) represent
the nymph Pelorias (PEAAPIA^:), personification of
the promontory which runs out to the north of the
city, and the hero Pheraemon (^EPAIMAN, repre-
sented like Leukaspis at Syracuse), a legendary ruler
of northern Sicily.
The mint of Messana, which closed with the
disaster of 396, opened again about the time of
Dion's expedition ; but we may leave the description
of the later coins to a subsequent chapter.
At Naxos, as at too many other Sicilian cities, the
mint enjoyed but a short span of activity in this
period ; for Dionysius crushed the city in 404. The
tetradrachm has a new development of the older
types, the god Dionysus being represented as
youthful and beardless (PI. VIII. 17). On the
reverse is Silenus seated beside a vine, holding
wine-cup, ivy-branch and wine-skin. More remark-
able is the didrachm, of which some specimens
(PI. IX. i) are signed by the artist Prokles (nPOI<AH^).
It has a pretty, girlish head of Apollo (a laurel-leaf
behind it), and a figure of the squatting Silenus.
Most of the specimens show the head of Silenus
in profile, but Prokles also attempted the task of
K 2
132 THE FINE PERIOD ]
representing the head facing, as in the specimen >
illustrated. To do so with any success is the more \
difficult in proportion to the smallness of the scale ; '
and it is probably for this reason that he has made |
the head disproportionately large.
Of the other Naxian coins, there is but one which i
we need mention, a half-drachm (PL VIII. 18), com- ,
bining the Silenus type with the head of a river- \
god Assinus (A^SIINOs:)— either the river Acesines ^
(sometimes called Asines), the Cantara of to-day,
or else the little stream S. Venera, which is even i
nearer to Naxos. The inscription on all the coins !
of this period (when complete) is NAZI AN.
Two or three artists besides Euaenetus signed i
their names on the coins of Catana. Among them \
is Prokles, whom we have already found at Naxos ; ■
but a more remarkable artist is Herakleidas j
(HPAKAEIAA^). The profile head of Apollo (PL IX. 3) !
with the powerful development of the cranium, and |
the singularly portrait-like features, ranks with the ;
most individual of Syracusan heads, and, though not
signed, probably comes from this engraver's hand, i
Both he and another artist, Choerion (XOIPIAN), also '
represented Apollo's head facing (PL IX. 2, 4)— not, :
if we compare the similar subjects on Syracusan ;
coins, with very much success. Choerion's head of \
Apollo (PL IX. 4) is crowned not with laurel, but i
NAXOS. CATANA 133
with an oak-wreath, and flanked by his attributes,
the bow and the lyre. The god's name (APOAADiN)
is placed under the head, and the artist's own name
at the left side. Other types of this time are
the lank-haired head of the river-god Amenanus
(PL IX. 5), and the head of Silenus, facing, on silver
drachms and half-drachms — a remarkable study of
a bald-headed wine-bibber (PI. IX. 6).
The bronze coins of Catana (which ceased to issue
money in 403, when it was enslaved by Dionysius)
need not detain us from passing on at once to
Leontini. This city, as we have seen, fell from
its former greatness in 425. But it enjoyed a short
period of revival, when in 405 it was once more
recognized as independent, only to have its in-
habitants transported to Syracuse in 403. Of this
brief span of existence there is a little monument,
a unique silver half-drachm (PI. IX. 7), which had
long been known, but remained unappreciated until
Mr. Evans pointed out its significance. On the
obverse is the head of Apollo with the inscription
AEON, on the reverse l<ATANAinN, with the type
of a butting bull, and a fish in the exergue. The
butting bull (a type derived from southern Italy)
is also found on the contemporary silver litra of
Catana. This little coin was undoubtedly struck by
Catana and Leontini in alliance during the brief
134 THE FINE PERIOD
period which preceded the overthrow of both
cities.
The revival of Leontini at the time of Dion's
expedition, when the Hberator found his chief support
in that city, is illustrated by a didrachm (Fig. 34)
exactly corresponding to the ' Pegasus ' of Syracuse
Fig. 34. Leontini : ^ Pegasus.* i
already described ; except that this reads AEONTINON
for the other's ^YPAKOSIION, the two pieces are quite
similar. The dating of these coins, it must be |
admitted, is no matter of certainty ; but Dion seems i
to have a better claim to them than Timoleon.
To Dion's time also probably belongs a bronze
coin with the head and tripod of Apollo. i
We may now turn once more to western Sicily.
At Seliniis the type of the river-god sacrificing still
appears on the tetradrachms, but the figures of
Apollo and Artemis in their car are superseded
by the four-horse chariot driven by Victory, the 1
horses galloping, a wreath hung above them :
(PL IX. 8). The didrachm does not change its \
types; the half-drachm has a head of Heracles, j
LEONTINI. SELINUS. SEGESTA 135
sometimes three-quarter face, sometimes in profile.
With the fall of Selinus in 409 the coinage ceased,
never again to be revived.
At Segesta we still meet with the old type of the
Crimisus, accompanied sometimes by only one dog
(PI. IX. 9 and Fig. 35); and, of course, the four-
FiG. 35. Segesta : Tetradrachm.
horse chariot is not missing. The horses are in
high action, as is now usual, and the charioteer
(possibly Persephone) holds three stalks of barley,
which remind us of the plant behind the hound
on the earlier coins. A rare tetradrachm (PI. IX. 9)
has, instead of the chariot-group, a figure of the
local nymph sacrificing at an altar, while a figure
of Victory flies to crown her. The form ^EfE^TAIAN
or EFE^TAIilN, too, now begins to supersede the
older form ^EFE^TAIIB or XiEFE^TAllA. The
hound and a female head are the types of all the
smaller coins, except where the reverse is occupied
by the inscription merely.
The Greek coinage of Segesta probably ceased
in 409, when the city came into the power of
136 THE FINE PERIOD
Carthage; it was possibly used as a mint by the
Carthaginians, but we cannot with certainty ascribe
coins to it again until the end of the First
Punic War.
If it were not for the rudeness with which most
specimens are executed, the types of Eryx at this
time would be charming. On one tetradrachm
(PI. IX. ii) we see the goddess Aphrodite seated,
holding one of her sacred doves, while before her
stands Eros, raising his hand towards his mother,
as if asking for the bird to play with. As might
be expected, the forms of the child are those of
a small man, rather than of an infant ; like the
early Italian painters, the early Greek sculptors
were late in attaining the art of representing in-
fantile forms. The inscription on this coin is
IRVKAIIIB (retrograde). On another tetradrachm
with the same reverse type, but slightly later in
date, the hound is replaced by the chariot-group,
and the inscription takes the Greek form EPVkiNON.
Variations on the theme of Aphrodite and the
hound provide all the types for the smaller coins
(PL IX. ID, 12), on one of which the goddess
plays with a dove, and the 'swastika' symbol is
placed above the hound.
During the period when Eryx was in Carthaginian
hands, coins were issued there which we shall
ERYX. THE HERACLEOTES 137
mention in connexion with the rest of the Siculo-
Punic issues.
A small, but much discussed group of coins (half-
drachms) is inscribed, in one form or another, with
the words HPAKAEIATAN and El< l<E4)AAOIAIOY,
i.e. 'coin of the Heracleotes from Cephaloedium.'
The types are a head of young Heracles and
a butting bull; the style, according to Mr. Arthur
Evans, shows them to be decidedly earlier than
Timoleon's time. Were they struck by Heracleotes
at Cephaloedium, or by inhabitants of some
other place who had come from Cephaloedium?
The former suggestion is hardly tenable, on gram-
matical grounds ^
It is by no means a rash assumption that the
inhabitants of Cephaloedium were expelled by the
Carthaginians (who, as we shall see, seem to have
established a mint at this place) and that they
settled in some friendly spot, keeping up their
community and issuing coins with a legend re-
calling their native city. There is no occasion to
connect these coins with Heraclea Minoa. They
may be assigned to the brief period between the
^ The preposition eK can be used (the Athenian quota-lists give
some striking examples) indifferently with iv, to express the people
'of* a place ; but Mr. Evans pertinently remarks that when so used
it is from the outsider's point of view ; and that is not suitable to
coin-dies engraved in Cephaloedium itself.
138 THE FINE PERIOD
fall of Himera (409) and the recovery of Cephaloe-
dium by Dionysius early in the fourth century, when
the Greek inhabitants were probably restored.
Two or three of the minor cities in Sicily issued
in this period coins which are of some interest.
A pretty bronze coin (PI. IX. 13) of about 400, or
perhaps a little earlier, is the unique piece having
on the obverse the head of a young river-god,
with horn and pointed ear, and on the reverse
a hound killing a fawn. In front of the head are
six pellets, marking the coin as equivalent to six
ounces or half a litra; and between the pellets are
visible the letters I AKIN. Numismatists have supplied
a P in the small space before the first pellet, and
attributed the coin to the town Piacus, mentioned
by the Greek lexicographer, Stephen of Byzantium,
and possibly also in a corrupt passage of the historian
Diodorus Siculus\ Whether the attribution is right
or not, we must wait for a second specimen to
decide. The style of the head shows the influence
of places like Leontini and Catana, although the type
of the reverse, by its associations, would point rather
to western Sicily. The late Mr. Samuel Butler
has called attention to the uncertainty attaching to
^ XII. 29. If Beloch and Pais are right in their emendation,
Piacus was destroyed by Syracuse in 440 ; but it may easily have
been revived and have struck coins before the end of the century.
MINOR MINTS 139
the initial letter, and has made some use of this
coin in connexion with the fact that the brooch of
Odysseus, as described by Homer, represented a
hound seizing a fawn; but to examine his theory
here would lead us far astray from our subject.
Of the other small cities coining in this period
we can hardly do more than merely mention the
names : — Nacona (Fig. 36, head of a nymph, and
Fig. 36. Nacona : Bronze.
Silenus riding on an ass); Morgantina (Fig. 37,
head of Athena facing, and Victory seated);
Fig. 37. Morgantina : Litra. Fig. 38. Abacaenum : Litra.
Abacaenum (Fig. 38, head of nymph facing, and sow
with a pig) ; Megara (restored, and represented by a
single badly preserved coin) ; Haluntium ; and (about
the time of Dion) Agyrium. At the last-named city
we find a river-god Palankaios (PAAAFKAIO^) repre-
sented as a human-headed bull.
We now come to a series of coins which presents
I40 THE FINE PERIOD
considerable difficulties to numismatists— the Siculo-
Punic series. They have been divided — for want
of a better arrangement — into three classes, ex-
pressing the degree of our ignorance concerning
them :
1. Coins with inscriptions which enable us to
assign them to a definite mint.
2. Coins with an inscription of which the meaning
is known, but which does not enable us to assign
them to any definite mint.
3. Coins with the inscription ziz, of which the
meaning is uncertain.
We cannot do better than describe them under
these headings. And, for once, we shall break
through the limits of our period, owing to the
great continuity of the series in point of style, and
describe the whole Siculo- Punic coinage down to
the closing years of the fourth century, when the
victories of Agathocles put an end to this exotic
currency.
Motya {Mtua) we have already found coining in the
fifth century. The imitation of Acragantine types
did not cease, even after the destruction of Acragas.
Thus we find the crab used as the reverse type of
a tetradrachm which has on the obverse an imita-
tion of Cimon's head of Arethusa in his second
manner. Smaller coins, also with the crab reverse,
PUNIC: MOTYA; SOLUS 141
have obverses imitated from his facing head of
Arethusa (Fig. 39). A type more significant of the
nationahty of the men who issued the coin is the
Fig. 39. MoTYA : Didrachm.
date-palm which we find on the smaller silver pieces
(PL IX. 14) and on most of the bronze.
The coinage of Motya came to an end in 397,
when its population was massacred by Dionysius.
Lilybaeum, in which the remnant found a place to
settle, did not, so far as we know, strike any coins
until it became a Roman possession in the third
century.
Solus, which we also found striking coins in the
preceding period, continues to issue a somewhat
feeble currency (Fig. 40). The majority of these
Fig. 40. Solus : Bronze.
pieces are inscribed in Punic letters Kfra^ i. e.
'Village,' and that this was the Punic name for
Solus is proved by a few bronze coins which
142 THE FINE PERIOD
also bear the inscription ^OAONTINON. Such for
instance is a piece with the head of Heracles
wearing the lion's skin, and a cray-fish with three
pellets — a quarter-litra, therefore.
Possibly the tetradrachms (PL IX. 15) with the
head of Persephone and a four-horse chariot, unin-
scribed but for the Punic letter K, may also belong
to this city. Otherwise there are no silver coins
above the value of an obol to which it can lay
claim.
Eryx — the Greek coins of which we have already
described — takes its place in the Punic series with
two coins reading V^, a pretty little obol with the
head of Aphrodite and a human-headed bull, and
a ' Pegasus ' with the head of Athena and Pegasus.
The latter can hardly belong to any time before
Dion's, and is very possibly later still.
Passing over a coin of Morgantina with the Punic
letter 71/, we come to the more important series of
tetradrachms inscribed Rsmlkrt, ' Ras Melkart,' or
'Cape of Heracles.' These have usually been
ascribed to Heraclea Minoa, near Acragas; but
recently it has been shown by Holm that Cephal-
oedium on the north coast has at least equally
good claims. The tetradrachms all have the gal-
loping chariot, but they differ in that some bear
the head of Persephone, surrounded by dolphins
PLATE IX
1. Naxos : didrachm (Prokles). Berlin [formerly in the Imhoof-
Blimier Collection) 131
2. Catana : tetradrachm (Herakleidas) ..*... 132
3- ,, „ (obv.) 132
4. „ „ (Choerion). Hunter Museum, Glasgow . 132
5. ., drachm 133
6. „ „ Loebbecke Collection 133
7. Catana and Leontini : half-drachm. A . J . Evans Collection . 133
8. Selinus : tetradrachm 134
9. Segesta : tetradrachm. Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale . . 135
10. Eryx: litra 136
11. „ tetradrachm 136
12. ,j litra 136
13. Piacus ? : bronze half-litra ........ 138
14. Motya: obol 141
15. Solus?: tetradrachm 142
16. Ras Melkart : tetradrachm (obv.) 143
the lion's skin, and ree
; qterter-litra, there f*
P(>--iT>ly the tetradrachms
Persephone a^ i^Vaji
scribed but for the Punic > )eI6ng
alS5ve- the vain. • ^^^^^^ '^f^^^ lav .
cfem- (.vdo) ,. „ .8
d^cnbcd— take- .«ofe,tto-:).«s^4lo4'^'^,.st-«''es with^
h^d of Ap' 'm^
a8fePegas). .• '.adBTttt;iati0as,oi
i^b latter clxn -hafdlv -i-'^b^^ before"
Qis^-j's, aud i^ very.pc . uiMiisH 9snoid i^zisobH .£i
^Ppssin.^ over a coin of Pv - • • >h^^fe-T^.?M(-;^'
■ . . j; 'IdJ :?2uIo3 .JI
.^ come to the (.vdo) mdVfn: ::.s5lbM^^)5H^«^I
^cribed Melkart/ or
'sually be
.^as; l>iu
t Cephal-
inallv
He tetradrachms
surround
Plate IX
PUNIC: ERYX; RAS MELKART 143
(Fig. 41); others a female head also accompanied
by dolphins, but without a wreath (PL X. i);
others again a bearded head wearing a laurel
Fig. 41. Ras M elk art : Tetradrachm.
wreath — probably Melkart, the Tyrian Heracles
(PL IX. 16). The coins are as a rule poor in style,
showing clearly the barbarian hand striving to
imitate Syracusan work. If the attribution to
Cephaloedium is correct, the coinage must have
come to an end when the place was betrayed to
Dionysius early in the fourth century; and the
style of the coins is consistent with this conclusion.
The silver coins of the second class fall into three
groups, according as they are inscribed (or have
the same types as those which are inscribed) with
the Punic letters :
Krtchdsty i.e. Kartchadsat^ for 'New City (of Car-
thage)';
Ammchnt, i.e. Ammachanat, (or variant forms) for
' the Camp ' ;
2CCi^Mchsbm, i.e. Mechasbim, for 'the Paymasters.'
144 THE FINE PERIOD
Such are the interpretations now generally ap-
proved; and yet they do not carry us very far
towards the aim of every numismatist, which is in
the first place to find out where a coin was struck.
Closely connected with these coins are two groups,
one of gold coins, another of bronze, which bear no
inscription at all.
The types of the silver coins are interesting, partly
as imitations of the types of the Greek cities, some-
times evidently by a Punic hand, and not by that
of a Greek engraver working for the Carthaginian ;
partly also for their African allusions. The head
of Kora which we find on many of the ' Carthage '
and ' camp ' coins (PL X. 5, 6) is obviously a copy —
and usually a poor one — of Syracusan work. The
forepart of the horse (Fig. 42; cp. PI. X. 3) on
Fig. 42. SicuLo-PuNic Tetradrachm.
another was, it is thought, suggested by a gold
coin of Gela. The free horse, again (PL X. 4), is of
Syracusan origin. A head of Heracles in the lion's
skin (PL X. 8) on a 'camp' coin shows clearly the
influence of the coins of Alexander the Great, and
PUNIC: UNCERTAIN MINTS 145
the coins of this type must therefore belong to the
last decade or so of the Carthaginian occupation.
Even so, it is a strong testimony to the importance
which Alexander's coins at once acquired in Greek
trade that they should have been imitated in Sicily
before he had been dead ten years. The types of
the palm-tree, and the horse or lion with a palm-
tree in the background (PL X. 2) 4, 5), are on the
other hand inspired by Africa; and the bust of a
horse (PL X. 6, 8), which is often treated with much
spirit, reminds us of the omen which decided the
choice of the site of Carthage :
quo primum, iactati undis et turbine, Poeni
effodere loco signum, quod regia luno
monstrarat, caput acris equi.
Vergil, Aen. i. 442.
The fine head of a woman (PL X. 7) wearing a
'Phrygian' cap — i.e. the headdress of an eastern
ruler— with a diadem over it, is generally regarded,
because of the royal attire, as representing the
legendary foundress of Carthage. But the identi-
fication is purely conjectural.
The genuineness of a tetradrachm with these
types, but with AEONTINON replacing the Punic
inscriptions, is open to considerable doubt.
The gold coins which belong to this series are
uninscribed, and their types show nothing new.
The Phoenician ' sign of Baal ' which occurs on one
146 THE FINE PERIOD
variety (PI. X. 9) over a free horse is also found
on some of the silver tetradrachms.
We now come to the large series of coins in-
scribed Ziz, The most important are the not un-
common imitations of the Syracusan coins with a
chariot-group (PL X. 10-12). Some of them repre-
sent coins which were issued at Syracuse in the
previous period; others are obviously taken from
the decadrachms of Euaenetus.
Even the best of these heads, it should be noticed,
fall far short of the work of the Greek coins in
point of execution, and we must hesitate before we
admit that Greek artists worked for the Cartha-
ginians. There is a hardness and lack of feeling
and spirit about the treatment of the heads which
we do not find even in the most careless work
of Syracuse at this time; one feels instinctively
that these designs are copied from others.
Over the remainder of the types of this coinage
we must not hnger; but a bare list of some of
them, which may be consigned to a footnote \ shows
^ Youthful male head with dolphins, and free horse (PL X. 13);
female head, and hound with murex-shell (PI. X. 14) ; dolphin with
scallop-shell (marked with 5 pellets), and eagle with hare ; female
head (swastika behind), and forepart of man-headed bull ; head of
young river-god, and same reverse as preceding ; cock, and crab
head of Apollo, and Pegasus ; head of Athena, and swan on waves,
etc. etc.
PUNIC: ^ZIZ' 147
that they have no significant relation to any one mint.
A complete list would present subjects which, it has
been shown, are reminiscent of Syracuse, Messana,
Gela, Catana, Himera, Acragas, Leontini, Thermae,
and other places. Whatever Ziz may mean — and
it is unnecessary here to mention the various con-
jectures — we may accept the view that the coins
were struck, chiefly in the West of Sicily, and more
especially at Panormus, the larger coins for general
circulation wherever Punic armies went, the smaller
with very definite local types for local use. It
is quite clear from their style that these coins
extend nearly to the end of the fourth century.
As to their upper limit, it has been suggested by
Mr. Evans that the sea-horse in the exergue of the
coins engraved by the artist Mai . . . (PI. VIII. 10)
at Himera is inferior to, and was inspired by, the
same symbol on the Siculo-Punic tetradrachms
(PI. X. 12); and that, since Himera was destroyed
in 409, these pieces must have been struck by the
Punic cities, or more especially by Panormus, just
before, and with a view to the great invasion. The
possibility of the imitation having taken place the
other way about must, however, be carefully con-
sidered before we accept this ingenious hypothesis.
Apart from the difficulty of estimating the com-
parative stylistic merits of minute symbols in the
L 2
148 THE FINE PERIOD
exergue, it seems less likely that the Greek artist
of Himera should have been induced to adopt the
symbol placed on the Punic coins about a year
before, than that, when the Carthaginians took
Himera, they should have imitated on their coins
the last issues of that mint.
5.
6.
7-
8.
9-
lO.
II.
12.
13-
14.
RasMelkart: tetradrachm I^^^^S ^43
Siculo-Punic ' Camp ' : tetradrachm (obv.) . ^^^H| 145
♦New City' . ^^* . 144
„ 'New City— Camp*: tetradrachm (obv.) . 144,145
' New City ' „ „ • i44» i45
„ tetradrachm 144, 145
„ ♦ Camp ' : tetradrachm . , . . . 145
>j J) )> ..... 144, 145
» Gold 145
,, ' Ziz ' : tetradrachm 146
,, „ „ ...... 146
M ?) 5> 146, 147
„ „ didrachm 146
j> J) )> ....... 146
14^
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Carthaginians
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Plate X
CHAPTER IV
THE DECLINE
B.C. 346-274 .
Our new period opens with a changed Sicily.
The result of the expeditions of Dion and Timoleon,
more especially the latter, was the sudden revival
of many communities that had sunk into insignifi-
cance, and the appearance as active, though not
powerful factors in Sicilian politics of many small
states of which practically nothing had been known
before. Syracuse does not exercise that blighting
influence over the political life of Sicily which
distinguished it under the tyrants, but it is still by
far the most important city, and with its coinage
we again begin the chapter.
Dion, as we have seen, issued electrum coins;
with Timoleon we have a return to the more satis-
factory metal gold (PL XI. i). The head of iEY£
EAEYOEPIO£, the Zeus of Freedom, is indeed appro-
priate to Timoleon ; the cult of Zeus in this aspect
had been established in Syracuse at the time of
the first expulsion of the tyrants, and history
I50 THE DECLINE
naturally repeated itself, in that the god found fresh
honour in connexion with the newly restored con-
stitution. The Pegasus is of course due to Corin-
thian influence. The coin — as the three pellets
show— is a piece equivalent to three silver staters
of the Pegasus-class. These were now issued
(PL XL 2) with the same types as in Dion's time,
but with the long o in the inscription: ^YPAKO^IAN
and not ^YPAKO^ION as on the earlier stater. A
rarer stater (PI. XI. 3) represents the head of Zeus
Eleutherios. Of the many smaller silver coins it
must suffice to mention but one, which associates
with the free horse (doubtless here used as an
emblem of liberty) a curious combination of two
heads, similar to the representation of the Roman
god Janus, except that the two heads here seem
to be female (PI. XL 4). Such double-headed repre-
sentations are not uncommon on Greek coins, and
are as a rule exceedingly difficult to interpret.
The bronze coins which begin with Timoleon are
numerous and interesting. Some of them exceed
an inch in diameter, and are very thick, with
the types in bold relief This increase in size and
weight shows that they were a more important
element in the currency than any bronze coins had
been before the issue of the litra described in the
preceding chapter (p. 114). The Pegasus in one form
SYRACUSE: TIMOLEON 151
or another is the dominant type, as on the silver;
but we also note the appearance of a bearded male
head (PL XL 5), wearing a ' Corinthian ' helmet.
This may be merely the war-god Ares, but has
also been explained as Archias, the founder of
the city, or as the god Hadranus, whom we shall
meet with on coins of Hadranum. The facing
head of a young river-god has been called the
Anapus — it was from this river that Timoleon seized
Epipolae— and another facing head is thought to
be the fountain Gyane. Zeus Eleutherios is of
course to be found on the bronze coins (Fig. 43)
Fig. 43. Syracuse : Bronze.
as on other metals; but a special interest attaches
to some of the bronze pieces with his head. These
present as the type of their reverse a thunderbolt,
set up on end, and, in the field beside it, a small
eagle. Now the combination of the two most cha-
racteristic attributes of Zeus, where the eagle stands
on the thunderbolt, is without doubt one of the
commonest of Greek types ; but in the form which
it assumes here, it is unusual. It is, however,
152 THE DECLINE
met with on the coins of Alexander, king of
Epirus, and we need not hesitate to accept the
suggestion that, in the expectation or hope of
drawing this king to Sicily when in 332 he went
to southern Italy, the Syracusans issued coins with
his types \ Another type is the head of Zeus
Hellanios; the barking hound which adorns the
reverse of this coin is probably the animal sacred
to Hadranus. For that god was said to have in-
tervened on the side of Timoleon in his first battle
with Hicetas; and, again, it was while sacrificing
to him at Hadranum that the liberator was saved
from assassination at the hands of the hirelings of his
enemy by what seemed to be divine intervention.
Such was the Syracusan coinage from the arrival
of Timoleon down to the accession of Agathocles.
The coins struck during the period of the latter's
tyrannis are singularly rich, even for Sicilian coins,
in details illustrating his career.
Agathocles was chosen general with supreme
powers in 317. The coins issued from this time
until the date of his invasion of Africa in 310 do
not bear his name ; but they are distinguished from
all earlier Syracusan issues by the appearance of
the three-legged symbol, popularly called trtquetra^
but more correctly trtskeles. This symbol, what-
^ The same combination of t3^pes also appears at Agyrium (p. 177).
SYRACUSE: TIMOLEON; AGATHOCLES 153
ever may be its meaning in other parts of the
world, is generally supposed to be the emblem of the
three-cornered island, Trinacria, — very much as it
became in later days the emblem of the Isle of Man
which faces towards the three countries, England,
Scotland and Ireland. Yet we must hesitate some-
what to admit that, several years before the con-
quests of Agathocles gave them the right to make
such a claim, the Syracusans placed upon their
coins an emblem which implied domination over the
whole island. It is not impossible that the triskeles
was originally the private signet of Agathocles, and
that its adoption as the emblem of all Sicily
belongs to a later date. Were it otherwise, we
should expect to find it used prominently in the
time of the kings Pyrrhus and Hiero, who were
recognized as kings of the Siceliotes. As a matter
of fact, except on the coins of Agathocles, it is
never or rarely found in Sicily save on coins of
Roman date; and to the Romans therefore we
:"0>:
Fig. 44. Syracuse : Gold of Agathocles.
may perhaps attribute the extension of its signifi-
cance.
154 THE DECLINE
The best known gold coin of Agathocles' first
period is the imitation (Fig. 44) of the ' PhiHppus/
the gold stater issued by Philip II of Macedon in
enormous quantities from the output of his famous
gold mines at Philippi. The types are the same
as on the model, a laureate male head, representing
either Ares or Apollo, and a two-horse chariot ; but
the name of Philip is replaced by £YPAI<0£IAN,
and the symbol in the field, which indicated the
place of mintage, by the triskeles. The / Philippi '
were an even more important element in the cur-
rency of the ancient world than the Corinthian
staters or the tetradrachms of Alexander, and we
have already seen how these left their mark on
Sicilian coinage.
These Philippean types were used by Agathocles
for two gold coins, one of sixty, the other of forty
litrae (PI. XI. 7). A still smaller gold coin of twenty
litrae has the head of Persephone and a bull with
lowered head (PL XI. 6).
When we come to the silver coinage, we find
the 'Pegasi' still being issued, but distinguished
(PL XL 8) by a more elaborate helmet (ornamented
with a griffin) for Athena, and by the triskeles
symbol on the reverse. The tetradrachms, however
(PL XL 9), are more characteristic of the period;
the head of Persephone still shows the influence
SYRACUSE: AGATHOCLES 155
of Euaenetus, soon to disappear, and the falling
off in the composition of the reverse is patent \
The drachm belonging to this series (PI. XL 10)
has a head of Ares (or Apollo) similar to that on
the gold coins, and a triskeles with wings attached
to the feet and the head of the Gorgon in its
centre. This elaboration of the symbol strengthens
our view that, at this time, it can hardly have
been meant merely to indicate the three-cornered
island.
The bronze coins {e.g. PL XL 11) belonging to this
series are of little importance; the time of the
large bronzes is past.
The second series of Agathocles' coins ranges from
310, when he avenged on Carthage the invasion
of Sicily made just a century before, to the time
of his assumption of the royal title, about 304 (not,
as is usually stated, in 307). ' The gold and silver
coins now bear his name; and with good reason,
since he must have required to strike them in
large quantities for his military chest. But the less
important bronze is still issued in the name of the
Syracusans. The gold coin (PL XL 12) is a stater
with remarkable types. On the obverse is a youth
^ The monogram of AN, which frequently occurs on these
tetradrachms and on other coins of Agathocles, may possibly be
the signature of the tyrant's brother Antandrus.
156 THE DECLINE
ful head wearing an elephant's skin, probably the
personification of Africa. On the reverse, which
bears the tyrant's name in the genitive (AFAOO-
l<AEO£), is a figure of Athena, winged (and evidently
meant for that goddess in her aspect of Victory);
she wears her helmet, carries her shield on her
left arm, and strikes forward with her spear. In
the field is an owl. The coin is obviously modelled
on one of Ptolemy I, king of Egypt, who, however,
does not represent Athena as winged. The com-
pliment paid to Ptolemy preceded, rather than
followed Agathocles' marriage with the king's step-
daughter Theoxena, which apparently took place
after 304. The owl is of course in place beside
Athena; but a further significance attaches to it in
view of the story that, when his army was drawn
up against the Carthaginians in 310, Agathocles
encouraged his men by letting fly a number of
captured owls, which settled on their helmets and
seemed an omen that the goddess of battles was
on their side.
The types of the silver tetradrachms (PI. XI. 13,
14) are a head of Persephone, treated in a style
quite different from that of Agathocles' earlier tetra-
drachms ; and a figure of Victory nailing a helmet
to a trophy stand, which is already adorned with
cuirass, shield and greaves. On some of these
SYRACUSE: AGATHOCLES 157
coins (PI. XI. 13) we still find the inscription :CYPA-
KO^IAN on the obverse; more commonly, however
(PI. XI. 14), this is replaced by KOPA^ ('coin of
the Maiden-Goddess'). With the exception of a
few uninscribed pieces, all the reverses bear the
name of Agathocles, either in the genitive as on the
gold, or in the adjectival form AFAOOKAEIO^. The
naming of the Maiden-Goddess on the obverse may
have been merely an excuse for getting rid of the
name of the Syracusans; but it is more probably
to be connected with the fact that Agathocles,
when he landed in Africa, dedicated his ships to
Demeter and Kora before setting fire to them.
The sacrifice of his ships was, as it were, perma-
nently commemorated on these coins, which are
themselves sacred to the goddess Kora — for such is
the sense of the genitive l<OPA^. In the exergue
of some of the bronze coins of this period, the
obverse type of which is a head of Heracles, the
reverse a lion and a club, we find a burning torch
(PI. XI. 16). It is, however, somewhat rash to
suggest that this symbol refers to the burning of
the ships; were the types in any way connected
with Demeter and Persephone, the interpretation
might be accepted. The head of Artemis with the
epithet ^ATEIPA ('Saviour'), the head of Athena
with a trophy behind it, a mounted lancer, and
158 THE DECLINE
a thunderbolt are other types of the bronze of
this period. They all bear the name of the Syra-
cusans, and are without the triskeles symbol.
We now come to the last period of Agathocles,
from about 304 to his death in 289. The gold
coins (Fig. 45) bear his name with the royal title :
AFAGOHAEO^ BA:^IAEO£. The types are the head
Fig. 45. Syracuse : Gold of Agathocles.
of Athena and a thunderbolt. The ordinary bronze
coin of this period has the same type and inscription
on the reverse^ but the head of Artemis ^ATEIPA
replaces that of Athena (PI. XL 15). As to the silver
coinage there is some dispute. Most authorities
agree in assigning to this time the uninscribed
' Pegasi ' which have for symbol on the reverse
either a triskeles or a star (PL XI. 17), and are
of the weight of eight litrae (about 108 grains), or
one-tenth of the value of the gold coins of eighty
litrae. These coins herald the abandonment of
the Euboic-Attic standard of weight. Some doubt
attaches to the dating of certain silver pieces
(PI. XL 18) of fifteen litrae (head of Kora with
long hair, and chariot driven by winged Victory,
SYRACUSE: AGATHOCLES 159
a star above it) and of bronze pieces which are
of strongly similar style, although the charioteer
is not a Victory. They have been assigned by
one to the time of Hicetas, by another to the
period of democracy following Hicetas ; while Holm
believes that they may possibly belong to the close
of Agathocles' tyrannis. The piece of fifteen litrae
would, on the last hypothesis, be the quarter of
a gold piece of sixty litrae also attributed to
Agathocles. It is more probable that of the two
pieces in question the bronze only belongs to the
time of Agathocles, and the silver to that of
Hicetas. For strong similarity of style cannot avail
to prevent us separating such coins by what may
after all be no more than two or three years.
But such problems as the dating of these pieces,
although the delight of numismatists, are of little
general interest when the types concerned are
somewhat banal.
The brief span of liberty enjoyed by the Syra-
cusans between the death of Agathocles and the
usurpation of Hicetas was marked by the issue of
two or three kinds of coins, — in the poorest of metals,
it is true, but all eloquent of the newly recovered
sense of freedom. One coin exactly resembles the
coin of Agathocles with the head of Artemis Soteira,
but the tyrant's name is replaced by that of Zeus
i6o THE DECLINE
Eleutherios (in the genitive: A\OZ EAEYGEPIOY).
Another has the head of the god of freedom,
similarly inscribed, on the obverse, his thunderbolt
and ^YPAKO^IAN on the reverse. Finally, it is
possible that in this short period also were issued
the bronze coins (PL XI. 19) with a youthful laureate
head inscribed AIO£ EAAANIOY, recalling the Zeus
Hellanios of Timoleon's time. The reverse of these
pieces has an eagle standing on a thunderbolt —
a type which recalls the constant type of Ptolemaic
money. We have already seen another approxima-
tion to Egyptian types in the coinage of Agathocles.
These humble coins were, however, soon put in
the shade by a fresh issue of gold. The new
tyrant Hicetas made a pretence of deferring to the
feelings of the Syracusans. His gold coin (a piece
of sixty litrae) differs from any struck since the first
period of Agathocles in that it bears the name
^YPAKO^IAN (PI. XII. i). It is also remarkable
that instead of placing his name on the coin in the
simple genitive, which would be equivalent to
assuming the sovereignty, Hicetas prefixes to it the
preposition used in dating a year by the name of
the magistrate who holds office for the time. In
other words, these coins are inscribed as being not
the coins 'of Hicetas,' but the coins struck Muring
the magistracy of Hicetas' (EPI IkETA).
I.
2.
3-
4-
5-
6.
7-
8.
9-
lO.
II.
12.
13-
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
4
^ PLATE XI
Jb Wr. FAGK
Syracuise : gold (30 litrae) ^49
'pegasus' ^50
Naples 150
2 litrae ^5°
„ bronze (obv.) ^5^
„ Agathocles : gold, 20 litrae i54
„ gold, 40 litrae i54
'pegasus* 154
,, „ tetradrachm ^54
drachm. Berlin {formerly in the Im-
hoof-Blunter Collection) . . . i55
„ „ bronze (rev.) ^55
gold, 120 litrae. Vienna . . . i55
,^ „ tetradrachm 156, 1 57
„ Paris y Bibliotheque
" " Naiionale . . 156, i57
„ „ bronze (obv.) ^5^
. (rev.) 157
'pegasus' 158
„ Hicetas ? : tetradrachm ^S^, 161
bronze ^^
fil
THl:
ogin..,! 1 jnscribv
*^'Helianios'
oei .. . .
i^ipjeces he
i^ei .' . .... .
«i tion to E^iT.
IX dTAdH
EAEYOEiPlOY).
freedom,
rse, his thunderboH
Finally.
issued
/outhful laureate
"1i°H:^Pllfi?g'%l2Zeus
«^<^rW] !ic„reverse^of t^ese
,\'.?f^i^^thunderbt<^lt—
ioriifi^i of Ptolejiaic
■ • ' • iwiother appro^tima-
mrbsibertaj^ ^^^ina^e oi AgSthocTes.
w?^^t^a .mdoBib -ivi^ever, soon p»k in
3K'rfri OS
a^Mlx: shade h\ . . (.vai) asaoid ^, gold. The jpew
^' toanl Uio^^.^'^'^'^'<^^ ' of deferri^ig t^ithe
' < 'iHV'^i^HbMia ,?,v«A Mis Hold coifJ (a piece
8pt i^nce the first
^si r.v^-j^ It bears Hie flame
8 " t« <« ^
_L g/^ 'f-^sBs^q' li ;s also remarkable
' ' l-j equivalent to
/prefixes to it the
,^d as bein
Plate XI
SYRACUSE: HICETAS; PYRRHUS 161
The silver coin of Hicetas, as we have seen, is
probably to be found in the pieces of fifteen Htrae
described above (PI. XI. 18); the driver of the
chariot is on these, as on the gold of Hicetas,
a winged Victory. For his bronze we can under-
stand that the cautious tyrant was quite content
to use the old 'freedom' types, without issuing
new ones.
The king of Epirus, whose romantic search for
adventure brought him as far as Sicily, has left his
impress on the coinage of the island. His gold
coin of 120 litrae (of the weight of the ordinary
gold stater) is an exceedingly pretty piece (PL XII.
2). We have reached a time when, so far as the
art of Greek coins is concerned, it is no longer
possible to use the epithets of highest praise.
To one coming from the study of modern coins,
the gold piece of Pyrrhus might seem beautiful
indeed; with the memory fresh in our minds of
what had been done in the fifth century, and
the early part of the fourth, we can see that the
elegant little coin before us lacks the strength
and originality of its predecessors of the fine
period. There is not much fault to find with the
obverse; but the reverse shows restlessness, not
to say affectation in the composition. The un-
natural way in which Victory's right wing is pushed
M
162 THE DECLINE
forward betrays the desire to balance the weight
of the trophy which she carries on her left arm.
The treatment of the dress also smells somewhat
of the lamp ; the whole coin is in fact finicking
in its style. Yet, when we come to the period of
Roman domination, we should be grateful indeed
for anything remotely approaching the level of this
piece; and even the best of the coins of Hiero II
fall below it.
The half of this gold stater is represented by
coins with the same reverse type, but with a head
of Artemis instead of Athena on the obverse, her
quiver at her shoulder (PI. XII. 3).
The head of Persephone on the silver coin
(PI. XII. 4) of about 90 grains is closely related in
style to the head on Agathocles' coins. As to the
figure of Athena on the reverse, we have already
seen a somewhat similar representation of the
goddess, with wings added, on an Agathoclean
gold coin, and remarked that the type was inspired
by a coin of Ptolemy I of Egypt. Pyrrhus indeed
was, like Agathocles, related to Ptolemy by mar-
riage. The most interesting of his bronze Sicilian
coins represents the (doubtless idealized) portrait of
his mother Phthia, veiled, and inscribed ^oiASI
(PI. XII. 5). The reverse of this coin has a thunder-
bolt. Another bronze combines with a head of
SYRACUSE: PYRRHUS 163
Persephone of the usual Syracusan style the figure
of the goddess Demeter, seated on a throne, and
holding a stalk of corn and a sceptre (PI. XII. 6).
On a third bronze a head of Athena on the obverse
is associated with the reverse type of a wreath of
oak-leaves, (from the sacred oak at Dodona in Epirus)
within which is an ear of barley (PL XII. 7).
All these coins (except some of the last class) are
inscribed with Pyrrhus' name and royal title — BA^I-
AEA^ PYPPOY. But the coinage of Syracuse at
this time was not represented by Pyrrhus' money
alone. We have a small group of coins which were
issued in the name of the Syracusans during the
presence of the Epirote king in Sicily. The gold
piece (PI. XII. 8) with a long-haired head of Per-
sephone, and Victory driving a two-horse chariot,
closely resembles the gold coins which were after-
wards struck by Hiero II. Of the bronze coins,
one has a similar head, and a torch in the
Fig. 46. Syracuse : Bronze.
Dodonaean oak-wreath, while another represents
a head of Heracles, beardless, wearing the lion's
M 2
i64 THE DECLINE
skin, and Athena fighting, — either as we have just
seen her on the coins of Pyrrhus himself, with
a spear, or, as in Fig. 46, with a thunderbolt.
We have brought the coinage of Syracuse down
to the time of the accession of Hiero II. The
description of the coinage of the rest of Sicily
from the time of Timoleon to the same date will
make us acquainted with several new mints, the
coinage of which is interesting historically, although
commercially it cannot have been of much impor-
tance. The only serious rival to the Syracusan
coinage, that of the Carthaginians in Sicily, we
have already brought down to its cessation under
Agathocles.
The list of Hellenic cities which now concern us
is sadly short. Acragas, still suffering from the
disaster of 406, raised its head feebly in Timo-
leon's day. The largest silver coin it struck then
was an uninscribed half-drachm with a free horse,
and the old emblem of the crab (PI. XII. 9).
A head of Zeus and an eagle standing (Fig. 47)
are the types of the ij litra
and I litra, inscribed AI<PA-
rANTINAN. The head of
Fig. 47. Acragas : Litra.
the river-god Al<PArA^ is
the type of the best of the bronze coins (Fig. 48) ;
it is a half-litra, as is shown b}^ the reverse which,
ACRAGAS 165
in addition to the eagle standing on a column, and
the crab in the field, is marked with six pellets.
Fig. 48. AcRAGAs : Bronze Half-Litra.
Along with a few other bronze coins, this was all
that the Acragantine mint produced until the death
of Agathocles; indeed it is probable that under
that tyrant the Acragantines were obliged to
content themselves with Syracusan coins.
Phintias, the by no means inefficient imitator of
Agathocles, struck coins which fall into two groups.
To the first (Fig. 49) belong bronzes inscribed
Fig. 49. AcRAGAs: Bronze of Phintias.
Al<PArANTO^ and 4^1; the types are a young
laureate head (the same head of Apollo or Ares
that we found on the Syracusan gold coins imitated
from the staters of Phihp II of Macedon) and
either two eagles on a hare, or a single eagle.
These coins must have been meant in the first
instance for circulation in Acragas. But, as king
i66 THE DECLINE
of a considerable portion of Sicily, Phintias issued
bronze coins inscribed on the reverse BA^IAEO^
^ I NT I A, with the type of a boar; on the obverse
is either the head of the river-god Acragas crowned
with barley (PI. XII. lo), or a head of Artemis
(PL XII. ii), sometimes inscribed ^ATEIPA. These
coins bear no city-name. As to the boar, numis-
matists are no doubt right in explaining it by
reference to the story that Phintias learned in
a vision how he should be slain by a boar; but
whether he then adopted the coin-type with a view
to propitiating the deity whom he had apparently
offended, or whether his use of the boar as a
symbol was not rather the origin of the story, is
a nice question for the critical mythologist.
The city of Gela figures even more poorly in
the history of this period than does its daughter
Acragas. First, in the time of Timoleon, it is
represented by silver diobols and pieces of i| obols.
The river-god Gelas (FEAA^) is represented as a
bearded head; on the reverse of the same coin
(Fig. 50) the free horse
symbolizes liberty. The
settlement of the constitu-
FiG. 50. Gela: ij Obol. u ^' i • n j j
tion by limoleon is alluded
to by the head of the goddess EYNOMIA (Order,
the daughter of Themis), who is represented in the
^
GELA. CAMARINA 167
guise of Demeter. On the reverse of this diobol
is a bull standing on an ear of barley — a reminis-
cence of the earlier representations of the river
Gelas and the fertile Geloan plain — and the old
inscription 'of the Geloans' (rEAAIAN). A bronze
Fig. 51. Gela : Bronze.
coin (Fig. 51) on which a youth (the founder, Anti-
phemus?) is sacrificing a ram can also be attributed
to Gela, though it bears no inscription ; for the same
type occurs on an inscribed coin of a later period.
The third of the once great cities of the southern
coast (Camarina) is represented by an even more
exiguous currency than the other two, A unique
little silver coin with Athena and a free horse, and
bronze coins with a similar reverse, and the head
of Athena in an 'Attic' helmet (PI. XII. 12), are
the only known issues. They belong to Timoleon's
time; and although the city continued to exist, it
never struck coins again.
One other old Hellenic city, Messana, produced
a few coins in the time of Timoleon and Hicetas;
but the metal was only bronze. In fact the money
i68 THE DECLINE
of these periods is generally eloquent of the im-
poverishment of the whole island, caused by the
troublous time through which it had gone.
The types of Messana in the time of Timoleon
are, as before, the head of the nymph Pelorias
(PEAAPIA^) assimilated to that of Persephone, and
accompanied by dolphins, and the hero Pheraemon
(PL XII. 13). Somewhat later we find a galloping
two-horse chariot associated with the head of the
nymph. Just before the incursion of the Mamer-
tines (which took place about 288 or 287) Messana
was using bronze coins (PL XII. 14) with the head
of Poseidon (POSIEIAAN) on the obverse, and his
trident flanked by two dolphins on the reverse
(types which we shall find at Syracuse under
Hiero). To the same time belong other coins with
the head of young Heracles in the lion's skin, and
on the reverse a lion with the hero's club above it,
and sometimes a torch in the exergue (types which
we have already seen on Syracusan coins of the
time of Agathocles).
With the massacre of the Messanians, and the
occupation of their city by the Italian soldiers
of fortune who called themselves 'followers of
Mamers,' the war-god, the name of the Messanians
(ME^^ANIAN) is replaced by that of the Mamertines
(MAMEPTINAN). The new coinage, hke the old.
MESSANA— THE MAMERTINES 169
is of bronze ; but there is no need to explain this
by the relation in which the Mamertines stood to
Rome from 264 onwards, although that relation
would probably not have permitted of their striking
silver coins had they had the opportunity. The
types of the bronze coins are numerous and in-
teresting. Among the first stands a coin almost
exactly copied from the bronze of Syracuse with
the head of Zeus Hellanios and the eagle on a
thunderbolt. It was struck in all probability just
after the Mamertines had left Syracuse. They
calmly appropriated the types, inscribing the young
laureate head with the name of the war-god Ares
(APEO^) as well as altering the inscription of the
reverse to their own name (Fig. 52). The eagle of
Fig. 52. Messana-Mamertini : Bronze.
course had no relation to Ares. Another coin
shows on the obverse (PI. XII. 15) a bearded,
helmeted head of the mysterious Oriental deity
Hadranus (AAPANOY), who was naturalized in
Sicily ; on the reverse is one of his sacred hounds.
The name of Messana lingers in the inscription
lyo THE DECLINE
of another coin, which presents the head of a
youthful Zeus with long hair: AlOs: ME^ ('sacred
to the Messanian Zeus'). To this group also
belongs the coin with the head of Artemis, and
the omphalos (the sacred stone of Apollo at Delphi,
PI. XII. 20). One variety of the last coin is espe-
cially interesting because the inscription takes the
form MAMEPTINOYM, evidently a transliteration of
the Italic genitive plural Mamerttnum.
Many of the bronze coins we have described
were in circulation at Messana down to the close
of the third century, but the impossibility of accu-
rately dating them has made it necessary to deal
with them as one group.
The scanty coinage of the old Hellenic cities is
to some extent supplemented by that of two com-
munities, which date their existence from 396. In
that year certain Sicels, who were in possession of
the territory of old Naxos, founded, with the help
of the Carthaginian Himilco, a city which grew into
Tauromenium {Taormina). Four years later it was
occupied by mercenaries of the Syracusan tyrant;
and finally, just before the expedition of Dion, the
remnant of the old Naxians was established as the
community of Tauromenium. The head of Apollo
the founder of the settlement (APXAfETA^) is the
obverse type (PL XII. 18) of all the earliest bronze
TAUROMENIUM 171
coins. The bull {tauros) is a natural type for the
reverse (PL XII. 19), and we find it in various
forms, sometimes with a human head. The name
of the people stands in the Doric genitive TAYPO-
MENITAN.
To Tauromenium also it is possible that we should
ascribe certain little gold coins (PI. XII. 16, 17)
which seem to belong to about the year 300, and
are distinguished by a monogram which may be
resolved into AP or PA. This monogram — true,
a very common one in all parts of the Greek world
— occurs on Tauromenite coins. The types are
a head of Athena, and her owl; or a head of
Apollo, and his lyre. All four types are found
on coins of Tauromenium such as we shall describe
in the next period. These gold coins have generally
been ascribed to Panormus during its brief occupa-
tion by Pyrrhus (278-276). If Holm is right in
his objection to this attribution, we have here the
earliest gold coinage of Tauromenium.
In 396, Dionysius settled, at a point on the north
coast some 36 miles west of Messana, a number
of exiles from Peloponnesian Messene and from
Naupactus, whom the Spartans after the end of the
Peloponnesian War had expelled from their homes.
The new city was called Tyndaris and has left its
name to C. Tindaro. The Messenians claimed
172 THE DECLINE
Castor and Pollux, sons of Tyndareus, as their
national heroes ; and presumably Helen as a national
heroine. Thus it is that on the earliest coins
— some of which may have been struck just before
the beginning of this period— we find a female
head wearing a stephane and inscribed TYNAAPI£,
doubtless meant for Helen; on the bronze coins
with this type a star is put behind the head,
marking her association with the fratres Helenaey
lucida sidera (Fig. 53). On the reverse of the silver
Fig. 53. Tyndaris : Bronze.
coins (obols) is a free horse with the twin stars
above it; on the bronze, one of the brothers
on horseback, holding a palm-branch, symbol of
victory (Fig. 53).
To the time of Timoleon, or the years succeeding
his death, belongs a series of bronze coins. Tyndaris
appears to have conquered — doubtless during the
war of liberation — the Sicel city of Agathyrnon
(near C. d'Orlando), and accordingly one of its
new coins bears the figure of the Sicel warrior
ATAOYPNO^, eponymous hero of the subject city;
on the obverse is a head of Apollo and the in-
TYNDARIS. ERYX 173
scription TYNAAPIAO^ ('of Tyndaris '). The other
coins bear the name of the people TYNAAPITAN,
and, in combination with the heads of Persephone
or Apollo, show either the Dioscuri on horseback
(PI. XII. 21) with the epithet ^ATHPE^ (' Saviours'),
or a horse's head which seems to be inspired by
that on the Carthaginian coins. The Dioscuri as
'Saviours' are usually supposed to have special
reference to Timoleon's expedition; but the epithet
often refers to these demi-gods in their character
of protectors of seafaring men, and is not out of
place on the coins of this maritime city.
We have already seen (p. 142) that the influence of
the Corinthian pegasus made itself felt in the remote
West in the days of Dion or Timoleon. To the
time of the latter belongs a bronze coin reading
[EP]YI<INnN, with the head of Zeus Eleutherios and
the local type of Aphrodite seated holding a dove.
It is one of the series, .which we shall deal with
later, struck upon Syracusan 'blanks.' If we did
not know from the historian Diodorus that a
number of the communities subject to the Cartha-
ginians joined Timoleon, this coin (with its revived
Greek inscription) would tell us that Eryx at least
was counted among his allies. The remainder of
the coins issued by Eryx at this time, we may pass
over.
174 THE DECLINE
It is doubtful whether Segesta issued any coins in
this period. If she did, they would be bronze coins
with the type of a hound, and of small importance.
We have now to consider a remarkable series,
the most striking monument of Timoleon's influ-
ence on Sicilian politics. These are the bronze
coins issued by a large number of small Sicilian
communities, mostly in the rough interior of the
island. Some few of them may have been issued
just before Timoleon's arrival, but the majority of
them belong to his time. Nothing could be greater
than the contrast between the days of Dionysius
the Elder, when these cities lay silent in political
death, and the new age when they spring into
active^ though in some cases too brief, existence,
as members of a confederation under the lead of
Syracuse. But the confederation was poor, not
only in men fit to guide it — for there was none to
stand beside Timoleon, and he was a foreigner —
but also in money. So to obtain the metal for
their coins, which were all of bronze, they took in
many cases the Syracusan pieces with the head of
Athena on the obverse, and the sea-star or the
hippocamp on the reverse, and re-struck them with
their own dies. One series of these is distinguished
by the absence of any mint-name, and by the
presence of the inscription ^YMMAXII<ON {Symma-
^^:' ■ ^- ..:■■ • ..;. ..^&';':'\'tv;. 4§f,
PLATE XII
PAGE
1. Sjrracuse, Hicetas : gold (60 litrae) 160
2. „ Pyrrhus : gold (120 litrae) 161
3. „ „ „ (60 „ obv.) .... 162
4. „ „ piece of 90 grains 162
5. „ „ bronze (obv.) 162
6. „ ,» „ (rev.) 163
7. » » » ( ,» ) 163
8. „ gold (60 litrae) 163
9. Acragas : half-drachm 164
10. „ Phintias: bronze 166
11. „ ,, » (obv.) 166
12. Camarina: bronze 167
13. Messana: „ 168
14. » ,y 168
15. Mamertini: „ (obv.) 169
16. Tauromenium ? : gold 171
17- „ »» 171
18. „ bronze (obv.) 170
19. „ V (rev.) 171
20. Mamertini : bronze (rev.) 170
21. Tjmdaris : bronze 173
22. 'Alliance': bronze. Brussels { formerly m the Htrsch Collection) 175
'hether begc--.
he did, they wou
ind, and < '
low to consider
I IX 3TAJq
king monunv
ronze coins
importance,
irkable series,
Odi
Idl
sdi
adi
fidi
4hef
edi .
^e- Elder;
^eath, and
^ctke> • thov
8di .
^^:. membe
irSyracu
iciiian politics. i h m... -j < the bioiize
(dBiJil od) blo^ :8J5i9DiH j9aif3M^8.,i
anisra oplo aoaiq „ #• .*
' ', y, ^ : . :>een issucu
(.vdo) asfioid „ „ .g
^VA^^ rnajprit^'idof
.. )
{esrtiil od) bfog
Xjuhj 1 /<:•' grerfter
8
(.vdo)
ge wh
. mrfbirtb.^Ififf^2L^W^v'^'us
(.vdo) „ rinitiamsM .gi
]Lu tit to ^
... ^ J. , \ ,"''^'' ^b" ^'^ "^va^ non(!^\o
071 -...., \ . \.vdo) asnoid „ .81
i^ttaud beside .Timok . (.v5i) h^ was a fqfeignQ^x--
071 .. (.v^>a!S^i4^:,mrhafaaMi .0^^,.
£^i asnoid : ariBbn'^T .is
the he
lies.
-^yracu
obvers
verse,
One series ot th<
ea-star or
then)
'stinguished
absence of any mint-name, and hy the
presence of the inscription SIYMMAXIKON (Symma
Plate XII
TIMOLEON'S L
175
chtkoUy 'coinage of the alliance'). Their type is
either (PI. XII. 22) a torch between two ears of
barley, or a thunderbolt (Fig. 54). One of them, it
Fig. 54. 'Alliance' Bronze.
is true, adds the name of the people of Halaesa
(AAAI^INAN) to the 'alliance' inscription; but we
have no reason to conclude therefore that all the
others were also issued from Halaesa. The obverse
types of these pieces are the heads of the Zeus
of Freedom (IEY£ EAEYGEPIO^), of Sicily (^ll<EAIA,
crowned with myrtle, PI. XII. 22), and of Apollo the
Leader (APXAfETA^, Fig. 54), under whose guidance
the Greek colonies were planted in Sicily.
Closely allied to this group of coins is a mys-
FiG. 55. 'New' Coinage : Bronze.
terious piece (Fig. 55) with no inscription but KAINON
('new coin'); the types are a runaway horse (with
loose rein) and a galloping griffin. No strong
176
THE DECLINE
reasons have been adduced in favour of any one
place of mintage.
Of those bronze coins, struck by the members of
v^hat v^^e may call Timoleon's league, which can be
attributed to definite mints, there are a few whose
attribution depends merely on their types. Such
are the coins with a lyre on the reverse, and on
the obverse either the head of Apollo (inscribed
APOAAAN) or a female head (Fig. 56) crowned with
Fig. 56. Hadranum : Bronze.
myrtle, and probably meant for Sicily. They must
belong to Hadranum (A demo), as we may see from
coins of that city which read AAPANITAN. On
these later inscribed coins we find the types of the
head and lyre of Apollo, the head of Sicily and
a sea-horse, as well as the head of the river-god
Hadranius and a butting bull (Fig. 57). Another
uninscribed coin, with a youthful laureate (male?)
head, and a dolphin riding over waves, must be one
of the earliest issues of the island of Lipara.
The attribution of other coins of this group is
HADRANUM. AGYRIUM 177
more obvious than that of the earliest coins of
Hadranum and Lipara. The pieces reading AFY
Fig. 57. Hadranum : Bronze.
or ArvPINAIAN belong to Agyrium (Agtra). We
find at this city the head of young Heracles
wearing the lion's skin (Fig. 58), or the head of
Fig. 58. Agyrium : Bronze.
Apollo, combined respectively with a leopard tearing
its prey, or a hound snuffing the scent; while the
Fig. 59. Agyrium : Bronze.
head of the Zeus of Freedom (iEY£ EAEYOEPIO^),
with his thunderbolt and eagle (Fig. 59), remind
N
178 THE DECLINE
us of the similar Syracusan coin (p. 151) and
its connexion with Alexander of Epirus. Henna
{Castrogwvanni) issues at this period, as in earlier
days (p. 91), coins with types relating to Demeter,
although the legend of the rape of her daughter,
the Maiden-Goddess, which was of such importance
locally, does not yet figure on the coins. The
head of Demeter is inscribed AAMATHP or AAMAT;
the city name appears as ENNAIAN variously abbre-
viated. One reverse type is a goat standing before
the torch of Demeter, which is placed between
two ears of barley, symbol of the corn-goddess.
Another is the head of an ox arrayed with fillets
for sacrifice to the same deity, as is shown by
the barley-corn above it. A third consists simply
of two barley-corns with the letters EN. The coins
reading EPBH^CINAN (with a female head, and
the forepart of a human-headed bull) must belong
to the eastern Herbessus (Pantalical). A good
head of Persephone, inspired by Euaenetus, but
of rough work, and a leopard are the types of
the coins of Centuripae {Cento} bi\ which are in-
scribed KENTOPIPINAN (Fig. 60). Morgantina has
some interesting types. First comes a bronze coin
with the head of Sicily on the obverse, and on the
reverse the inscription MOPPANTINAN and an eagle
holding a serpent in its talons (PL XHI. i). Its
HENNA. CENTURIPAE. MORGANTINA 179
occurrence at this time, while Herbessus also
produces the type of an eagle with closed wings
Fig. 60. Centuripae : Bronze.
standing and looking back at a serpent, is to be
connected with the story that before the battle on
the Crimisus there appeared to the army of Timoleon
the favourable omen of two eagles, one of which
held a serpent in its talons. Another coin of
Morgantina represents the head of Athena, with
a serpent beside it, and a lion devouring the head
of a stag, sometimes with a serpent between his feet.
Yet another coin has a young laureate head and
the tripod of Apollo (PL XIII. 3). Beside the head
is written AA1<0£, the sense of which is obscure.
Mytistratum (Marianopoli) has coins reading MYTI
or VM ; the obverses represent the fire-god He-
phaestus, wearing the conical felt cap of the smith ;
on the reverses are six pellets in an olive-wreath, or
a free horse, or three objects arranged like the spokes
of a wheel around a pellet. Finally, coins reading
^lAEPAIAN (forepart of a bull and a warrior in the
N 2
i8o THE DECLINE
attitude of attack) furnish proof of the existence of
an otherwise unknown place called Silerae or Silera.
One of the most remarkable of the coins relating
to Timoleon's work in Sicily is a unique silver
drachm (PI. XIII. 2) published by Mr. Evans. On
the obverse is a female head, crowned with myrtle,
and inscribed OMONOIA (^Concord'). On the re-
verse is a flaming altar adorned with laurel-branches,
with the inscription KIM I SIC If the peculiar ap-
pearance of the M in this word is not merely due
to a flaw, it may be explained as a monogram of
P and M, so that we must read the word KIPMI£^;
and this again must be explained as an alternative
form ofKPIMI^:^. In any case there can be little
doubt that the word is meant for the name of the
river Crimisus, and that Mr. Evans is right in
seeing in the Concord of the obverse an allusion to
the union between the Sicilian cities. It is no mere
coincidence that the head bears a strong resemblance
to the head of 'Sicily.' The coin was possibly
issued in common by some of the cities of western
Sicily, among them Panormus, which in later times
exhibits types of a similar kind. Mr. Evans is in-
clined to date the coin rather later than the life of
Timoleon, ' to the close of the twenty years' peace
that followed Timoleon's death in b.c. 336. But
the character of the types still suggests a reference
'CRIMISUS/ LIPARA i8i
to the peace and concord which he had founded/
Few if any of the coins of this Timoleonic group
can have been issued after the rise of Agathocles,
whose prosperity cast as severe a bhght on the
fortunes of the Sicihan cities as they had suffered
from the power of Dionysius.
The insular position of Lipara probably allowed
of its issuing coins with less restriction than places
on the main island. We have already mentioned
the uninscribed coins which belong to the Timo-
leonic period. Hardly later than these are certain
small bronzes, among the types of which may be
mentioned a bunch of grapes, and the conical cap
of Hephaestus. The characteristic coins (Fig. 6i)
Fig. 6i. Lipara : Bronze
reading AIPAPAION or AIPAPAIAN, with a seated
figure of the fire-god holding a hammer and a
drinking-goblet, and a dolphin or else merely pellets
indicating the value on the reverse, are rather
later and probably extend over a considerable
period. Towards the end of the fourth century
i82 THE DECLINE
a couple of coins, reading AIPAPAION on one side
and TYNAAPITAN on the other, bear witness to an
aUiance between Lipara and Tyndaris. Later than
these (about 288) must be the coins (Fig. 62) with a
Fig. 62. Lipara : Bronze.
laureate head of Ares (inspired by the similar Ma-
mertine type) and a trident. From soon after this
date until 252 Lipara was in the power of Carthage.
Three cities, Aetna, Entella, and Nacona, remain
to be treated together during this period. Aetna,
we remember, was the name given to Inessa by the
Hieronians who were expelled from Catana in 461.
A Campanian garrison, or rather population, was
established in the town, early in the fourth century.
It was about the time of Timoleon's arrival in the
island, or a little earlier, that the Campanians struck
the coins reading AITNAIAN ('of the Aetnaeans'),
with the free horse on the reverse, and the head
either of Athena or of Persephone on the obverse.
That the free horse, the symbol of liberty, should be
used by this mercenary garrison, is not remarkable
when we remember how the Mamertines a little later
AETNA. ENTELLA 183
adopted the Syracusan Zeus Hellanios for their own
purposes at Messana. The adoption of types by the
barbarians in Sicily (as indeed all over the world) is
guided chiefly not by the meaning of the type, but
by the credit belonging to it in international trade.
In 339 Timoleon put an end to the Campanians
in Aetna, and the result was that the city now
produced the orthodox coin with the head of
the Zeus of Freedom (lEY^ EAEYOEPIO:^) and his
thunderbolt.
Entella {Rocca (TEntella) was occupied by Cam-
panians in 404. In 342 Timoleon took the place,
and put to death a few of the inhabitants, ' restoring
their liberty to the rest.' The coins (Fig. 63) usually
Fig. 63. Entella : Bronze.
read ENTEAAAC ('of Entella') and l<AMnANnN ('of
the Campanians'), sometimes abbreviated. The
types are the head of Persephone, a bearded
helmeted warrior (the god Ares), or a helmet for
the obverse, and a Pegasus or a free horse for the
reverse. As almost all the coins bear the name of
the Campanians, we may assume that Timoleon in
i84 THE DECLINE
restoring freedom to the people did not find it
necessary to annihilate the Italian mercenaries.
Yet another city occupied by the Campanians
was Nacona, the site of which is quite uncertain.
Bronze coins with the head of Persephone, crowned
with barley, read l<AMnANilN on the obverse, and
on the reverse NA[l<nNH]£ (with a Pegasus) or
N AKAMAI AN (with a free horse).
In this group too we may place a coin issued
by the Tyrrhenians, evidently like the Campanians
a community from the other side of the Straits of
Messina. The types are a helmeted head (Ares?
or Athena ?) and a standing figure of Athena, facing,
her left hand resting on her shield — warlike types
suitable to a settlement of mercenaries. The in-
scription is TYPPH.
Finally, a monogram which has been variously
resolved is found on a silver obol with free horse
and olive-wreath (Fig. 64)
and on a bronze htra
(struck on a Syracusan
Fig. 64. Campanians (?):L,TRA. ^^^j^^ ^.^^ ^ ^^^^.^^
bull and a star of sixteen rays (Fig. 65). It also
occurs on a smaller bronze with a helmet. The
now prevailing view is that the monogram repre-
sents KAM, and that the Campanians in Sicily were
responsible for the coins. It is perhaps worth sug-
NACONA. THE CAMPANIANS 185
gesting that a possible resolution of the monogram
is MAT, and that the coins may belong to a city
Fig. 65. Campanians(?): Bronze Litra.
Mataurus, which Stephen of Byzantium states to
have been a foundation of the Locrians and the
birth-place of the poet Stesichorus. The bull
(tauros) would then be, as at Tauromenium, a cant-
ing type, and would at the same time represent the
river which the geographer Strabo describes as
flowing underground near the city in question.
CHAPTER V
FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
We come now to that phase of SiciHan, and more
especially Syracusan, coinage, which preceded the
constitution of the Roman Province. The greater
part of the time is filled by the reign of Hiero II.
The chief interest of the coins of this ruler, it will
hardly be denied, lies in the fact that some of them
give portraits of himself and his family — a new feature
in the history of Sicilian coinage, and one that only
became common in the Greek world in the course of
the third century.
Hiero's gold coins, in accordance with the con-
servatism which somewhat naturally clings round
the treatment of the most precious of the metals,
do not bear any portrait : for the male laureate
head on a unique coin at Munich is presumably no
portrait, but a descendant of the head of Apollo or
Ares on the coins of Agathocles. This coin is
a i2o-litrae piece. Its half is represented by the
commoner coin (PI. XIII). 4 with the head of
SYRACUSE: HIERO II 187
Persephone, and a two-horse chariot driven by
a female figure, the latter being also the reverse
type of the larger coin. Sometimes a winged
Victory replaces the wingless female charioteer.
All are inscribed lEPANO^ ('coin of Hiero').
His first silver coins (Fig. 66) are also without
Fig. 66. Syracuse: 'Pegasus* of Hiero II.
portraits. They are the descendants of the earliest
Syracusan pegasi, through the degenerate pegasi of
about 108 grains issued by Agathocles, and them-
selves weigh no more than 90 grains — a weight
which we have already found under Pyrrhus. They
are somewhat rare, and cannot therefore have been
issued in any great numbers, being superseded by
the more interesting silver coins to which we now
come. The issue of the latter probably began soon
after the assumption of the royal title by Hiero in
269; for those which bear Hiero's name add to it
the title BA^IAEO^. As regards weight, they show
a definite break with the Attic tradition. We have
pieces of litrae 32, 20 (or 18), 16, 8, 5, 4, 2, i. Of
these only the 5-litrae piece and the litra are con-
i88 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
formable to the old system. On the other hand,
since the litra weighed 13^ grains troy, the 4-Htrae
piece of 54 grains would be nearly the equivalent
of the drachm of what was known as the Phoenician
system, on which were issued the coins of the
Ptolemies and also of the Carthaginians — for this
people, after they ceased to strike what are known
as Siculo-Punic coins, began to produce a rich series
of gold, electrum and silver money. The last metal,
however, was hardly issued by the Carthaginians
until after the acquisition of the Spanish silver-mines
about the middle of the century; so that we must
attribute the monetary reform of Hiero chiefly to
his friendly relations with Egypt. The series of
Hieronian coins, regarded from the point of view
of the Phoenician standard, would be pieces of 8, 5,
4, 2, I, i, i drachms (if we exclude the anomalous
5-litrae piece, and regard that which weighs 243
grains as the equivalent of 20 litrae). Another
rapprochement may also be taken into account. In
268 the Romans issued their first denarii, quinarii
and sestertii. We can see nothing in the Hieronian
coins which can indicate an attempt to connect his
standard with that of the Roman denarius. But
about forty years later the Romans struck, for the
purposes of their foreign trade, a coin known as the
victoriatus (types : head of Jupiter, and Victory
SYRACUSE: HIERO II 189
crowning a trophy). The normal weight of that
coin was about 52J grains troy, three-quarters of
a denarius, or 3 scruples; and with it were issued
its double and half. There may be some reason
therefore for thinking that the weight of the Roman
victoriatus was partly determined by the fact that,
while a multiple of the Roman scruple, it was
nearly equivalent to the Hieronian 4-litrae piece.
The last-mentioned coin of 54 grains was thus a
little heavier than the victoriatus, as it was a little
lighter than the Phoenician drachm. It is true
that the victoriatus was chiefly used for trade with
northern Greece, but it can hardly have been
limited to that direction. The Hieronian standard
— as befits the position of Sicily — marks a point
half-way between Rome and the Phoenicians of
Carthage.
The large pieces of 32 litrae (PI. XIII. 5) are
inscribed BA^IAEO^ lEPANO^, and have a fine,
expressive portrait of the king, his head bound with
the royal diadem. There is some variety in the
portrait, showing that we have not a mere stereo-
typed court-engraver's representation. Some, which
must belong to the earlier part of the long reign,
show distinctly softer features than others in which
aU the lines are hardened. When we look into the
workmanship of the coin, we find that it will not
I90 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
bear comparison with the work of the great en-
gravers. Although this fact may not strike us while
we consider only the portraits, it becomes obvious
when we turn to the reverse. The chariot driven
by Victory offers no novelty, nor any distinctive
feature in its treatment, nor can it be said to be skil-
fully treated even from an academic point of view.
No one who is familiar with earlier representations
of the same subject will care to linger over this.
Hiero's Queen is known to us from the coins of
i6 and 5 litrae, as well as from one enigmatic piece,
apparently of 18 litrae, but possibly an under-
weighted 20-litrae piece. Her name was Philistis
(BA^IAI^CA^ ct^lAl^TIAO^, 'of Queen Philistis,'
is the legend on her coins). The larger coins
(PI. XIII. 7), with her portrait wearing an ample
veil, are numerous, and, to judge by the number of
specimens (frequently false) brought away from
Sicily by tourists, enjoy considerable popularity.
The appreciation of the art of Greek coins proceeds
by the same stages as that of any other school of
art : it is the later phases, with a certain show of
modernity, and comparatively little sincerity of treat-
ment, which are first admired; while the nobler
productions of the fine period are only understood
when the eye has been educated by and has tired
of the work of the ' decline.' The head of Philistis
SYRACUSE: PHILISTIS; GELO 191
soon ceases to please, and its glaring defects — the
careless treatment of lips, eyes, and nose, and the
hard folds of the veil — become more and more
apparent every time the coin is examined.
The head of Philistis on the coins of 5 litrae
sins on a smaller scale. The reverse type of these
coins is a two-horse chariot driven by Victory
(PL XIII. 6).
A third member of Hiero's family appears on the
coins of 8 litrae and of 4 litrae. This is his son
Gelo, who is represented as associated with his
father in the kingship. The head on the obverse
of these coins (PI. XIII. 8) has, it is true, been in-
terpreted by some writers as an ideal representa-
tion of the elder Gelo, the victor of Himera and
first tyrant; but this view is untenable. Gelo, who
bears a distinct likeness to his father, but also, in
some of the portraits, an even greater likeness to
his mother, wears the royal diadem. On the
reverse of the 8-litrae piece is the usual two-horse
chariot, driven by Victory; on the reverse of the
smaller coin (PL XIII. 9) is the Ptolemaic eagle
standing on a thunderbolt. In the field of the
reverse (sometimes accompanied by other letters,
the signature of the moneyer) is BA (for BACIAEO^I).
This shows, like the diadem, that Gelo is regarded
as king with his father, and accords with inscrip-
192 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS :
1
tions found at Syracuse which mention the name j
I
of 'King Gelo son of King Hiero/ and of 'Queen '
Nereis ' (wife of Gelo) along with ' Queen Philistis ' |
and 'King Hiero/ The inscription on the coins
is somewhat unusual: ^YPAI<O^IOI rEAANO^ —
'the Syracusans ... of Gelo.' Holm supplies 'dedi- i
cated this portrait.' But, in accordance with the j
usage of later coin-inscriptions, it would perhaps ;
be better to supply 'dedicated this coin.' The i
word 'dedicated' (dveOHKe) is constantly used when |
a prominent personage defrays the expenses of a I
coinage; it is followed by the name of the people, J
usually in the dative, but sometimes in the genitive. ;
Here we have a coin of Gelo 'dedicated' by the j
Syracusans. The point of this subtilty becomes
clear in the light of Holm's remark that Hiero j
'distributed the honours of the coinage over his !
family and the people.' \
Two odd little coins are the silver litrae with
the legends ^YPAKO^IOI XII or ^YPAKOSIIOI |
FEAANOC XII, and a diademed head, probably that
of Gelo. These inscriptions show that the silver \
litra was at any rate nominally the equivalent of i
twelve copper litrae ; the form of the numerals also I
shows the increasing influence of Rome.
The bronze coins of this reign all read simply 1
lEPilNOC, except one small group which, having
SYRACUSE: GELO. SICELIOTES 193
£YPA1<0£IAN on the obverse (head of Persephone),
has the king's name shortened to IE on the reverse
(PL XIII. 10; butting bull and club). The portrait
of Hiero occurs, sometimes laureate (PI. XII I. 11),
more often diademed. These heads with the laurel
wreath are perhaps the first instance of the use of
that form of crown for a human ruler; reserved up
till then almost exclusively for the gods, it was
perhaps not approved by Hiero's subjects, for it
only occurs on a few of his coins. One of the
commonest of all Sicilian coins is the bronze
bearing the head of Poseidon on the obverse, and
his trident on the reverse, with lEP/lNO^ across
the field (PL XIII. 12). Enormous quantities of
this coin must have been struck, to judge by the
numbers found in modern times.
Before we pass on to the coinage of Hieronymus,
we must describe a group of gold and silver coins
with the legend ^IKEAIilTAN— 'of the Siceliotes.'
They are a gold piece of 67^ grains (equivalent at
the rate then prevailing to 60 silver litrae) and silver
pieces of 8 (PL XIII. 13), 4, and 2 litrae. The type
of the obverse is a veiled head of Demeter, or
perhaps of Philistis veiled, and crowned with barley,
in the guise of Demeter. The reverse types are
a two-horse chariot and a four-horse chariot for the
gold and silver respectively. Finally, all have a
194 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
monogram which has been resolved into the letters
TM, or 1^, but in neither case with much proba-
bility; for in the former the monogram lies on its
side, while in the latter no account is taken of
a bar joining the I to the Z. Whatever be the
interpretation of the monogram (and this we shall
not attempt to decide) there can be no doubt that
the coins belong to the time of Hiero, and that
they were issued by or for a group of the Greek
as opposed to the Carthaginian cities — the legend
tells us as much. In all probability, therefore, they
formed the currency of Hiero's dominions outside
Syracuse after the settlement at the end of the
first Punic War.
The unhappy successor of Hiero, his grandson
Hieronymus, is represented by a good number of
coins in all three metals. They uniformly read
BACIAEOC lEPANYMOY and have for reverse type
a winged thunderbolt. The head of Persephone,
with long hair, is the obverse type of the gold
coins. These comprise in the first place a unique
piece of the same weight as Hiero's gold coin
with a similar obverse type, and as the gold ^Sice-
liote' coin, and secondly, pieces (PL XIII. 14) of
half that weight; being thus equivalent to 60 and
30 silver litrae respectively. The silver coins
(PI. XIII. 15) represent 24, 10, 6, and 5 litrae;
SYRACUSE: HIERONYMUS 195
and the obverse type of them all, as well as of the
bronze, is a diademed head of the young king. It
would be difficult to find among the portraits on
Greek coins one which accords more fully than this
with the character of Hieronymus, as it has come
down to us. The nobility and keenness of cha-
racter expressed in the head of Hiero, and to a less
extent in that of Gelo, are replaced by a sensuality
and weakness of features which fully justify a belief
in many of the stories told to the discredit of their
owner.
Coins in all three metals are ascribed to the short
but stormy period between the fall of Hieronymus
(214) and the final submission of Syracuse to Rome.
A gold piece of 60 litrae (67^ grains) has a female
head (probably of Hera) wearing a Stephanos or
broad metal diadem ornamented with flowers, and
on the reverse a four-horse chariot. In the Paris
example (PI. XIII. 16) the die of the reverse has
slipped and restruck the blank in such a way that
there appear to be no less than seven horses. The
coin of 40 litrae (45 grains) has the head of Athena,
and a new reverse type : — the goddess Artemis as
huntress, seen nearly from behind, discharging an
arrow from her bow (PL XIII. 18). She wears
hunting-boots, and a short chiton with girdle, and
her quiver hangs at her back. In silver we have a
o 2
196 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
great variety of types. The i6-litrae piece (Fig. 67)
has a laureate head of Zeus, and Victory in a gal-
loping four-horse chariot. The types of the 12-litrae
Fig. 67. Syracuse : 16 Litrae.
piece are a head of Athena and a figure of the
huntress Artemis, as on the 40-litrae gold piece. The
lo-litrae piece (Fig. 68) has a head of Persephone
Fig. 68. Syracuse : 10 Litrae.
with long hair, and a standing figure of Zeus (per-
haps the Zeus Ourios who was specially honoured
in Syracuse), with his eagle flying. Then come
pieces of 8 litrae, with a head of Athena and winged
thunderbolt, or with a head of Persephone (inspired
by the head designed by Euaenetus, and not by
the type with which since the time of Agathocles
we have become familiar) and Victory driving a
galloping four-horse chariot (PI. XIII. 17). On the
PLATE XIII
PAGB
1. Morgantina: bronze (rev.) 178
2. Concord— Crimisus: drachm. A. J. Evans Collection . . 180
3. Morgantina : bronze (rev.) i79
4. Syracuse, Hiero II : gold (60 litrae) 186
5. M » 32 litrae 189
6. „ Philistis: 5 „ 191
7. „ „ 16 „ 190
8. „ Gelo: 8 „ 191
9. » »» 4 » (rev.) 191
10. „ Hiero II : bronze (rev.) 193
11. „ » j> ^93
12. „ )) » ^93
13. Siceliotes : 8 litrae i93
14. Syracuse, Hieronymus : gold (30 litrae, obv.) .... 194
15. » » 24 litrae 194
16. „ gold (60 litrae). Paris, Bihliotheque Nationale . . 195
17. „ 8 litrae 196
18. „ gold (40 litrae) i95
19. „ 6 litrae (obv.) i97
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ni 17). On the
Plate XIII
SYRACUSE: WAR WITH ROME 197
6-litrae piece the bearded head of Heracles, in Hon*s
skin (reverse, Victory in two-horse chariot), is a good
specimen of the treatment of the demi-god in this
period of art (PL XHI. 19); we are on the verge
of the brutahty of the Roman type.
The coin of 4 htrae (PL XIV. 2) has a long-haired
head of Apollo, and Victory carrying trophy and
palm. All these coins, both gold and silver, bear
the name of the people in the genitive, ^YPAKOCIAN;
and we shall find the same form on the bronze.
Most of the coins are also inscribed with the
abbreviated names of officials responsible for the
issue of the money. A small group of silver coins
is distinguished by the nominative form ^YPAKO-
^101. These are, in the first place, a piece of 2^
litrae : obverse, head of Apollo ; reverse (PL XIV. 3),
a figure, perhaps of the Fortune of the City, her
veil blown out by the breeze, holding a branch and
a roll on which an inscription is suggested by dots.
Next, the i^ litra (PL XIV. 5) has the head of
Artemis and the owl of Athena. Last comes a
litra with the head of Athena, and the inscription
CYPAKOSIIOI .-Xlll, which implies that the silver Htra
was now worth 13^ copper litrae, instead of 12
as formerly. The use of the nominative may have
been suggested by its use on the coins of Gelo the
younger, but it is difficult to see how it can be
198 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
regarded, as Holm regards it, in the light of a
protest against the legend ^YPAI<o:e:ioi FEAANO:^.
Among the few types of the bronze of this period,
we need only mention the head of Poseidon, with
trident between dolphins — a survival from the coins
of Hiero; and the Dioscuri on horseback.
Before we proceed to describe the coinage of
Syracuse in the Roman period, we shall bring the
history of the other Sicilian cities down to the date
at which they too fell into the hands of Rome.
Here we have to do with but three cities in Sicily —
Acragas, Tauromenium, and Tyndaris — and with the
island of Lipara. Of these the first was pro-Cartha-
ginian during the greater part of the time concerned.
The head of Zeus, and his eagle with spread wings
(Fig. 69) are the types of the two larger silver coins
Fig. 69. Acragas : 4 Litrae.
(4 and 2 litrae); a third, the litra, has the head of
Zeus and his thunderbolt. . On a bronze which
reproduces the familiar two eagles on a hare, we
find a head of Apollo (PI. XIV. 4) combined in a
curious way with what appears to be a serpent
partly hidden beside the face. Mr. Head has drawn
ACRAGAS: TAUROMENIUM 199
attention to the fact that there was in the temple of
Asklepios at Acragas a statue of Apollo by the
sculptor Myron, and thus explains the connexion
between Apollo and the serpent sacred to the god
of healing. It is possible, however, that we have
here a head not of Apollo, but of Asklepios himself,
represented, as he sometimes was in Greek art, in
youthful form. On another bronze of the same
period (Fig. 70) we have the beardless head of
another god, who is (as the AIO^ ^flTHPO^ and
Fig. 70. Acragas : Bronze.
eagle of the reverse suggest) Zeus the Saviour.
The independent coinage of Acragas ends with its
capture by the Romans in 261.
The earliest coins of Tauromenium in this period
are of bronze (PL XIV. i) and still have the head
of Apollo the Leader (APXAFETA^); on the reverse
we find a lyre, a tripod, or a bunch of grapes.
These are followed by a coinage in all three metals
(PI. XIV. 6 foil.), which, as Holm has seen, is rather
too plentiful to have been struck in the short period
between the death of Hiero and the constitution of
the province, and therefore points to the compara-
203 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
tive independence of Tauromenium during the reign
of the good king of Syracuse. The head of Apollo
and his tripod are throughout the favourite types.
On one of the bronzes, the god's name APOAAANO^
is written beside his tripod. Of the other types,
the most remarkable is perhaps the Delphic om-
phalos, with the sacred snake twining round it,
on a silver coin with a head of Apollo on the
obverse (PI. XIV. 7). We find also the head of
Athena, with a Pegasus on the reverse, both on
silver and on bronze. The head of a bull seen
from the front, and a bunch of grapes, which occur
on a silver litra (PI. XIV. 9), are Dionysiac types;
on bronzes we find a head of Dionysus, combined
with either a bull, or a standing figure of Dionysus
(or one of his attendant Maenads) with a panther.
A bearded head of Heracles (PI. XIV. 10) is also
combined with a butting bull. In all cases of the
appearance of a bull on these pieces, we must
remember that, in addition to any Dionysiac signifi-
cance it may possess, it is also the ' canting ' emblem
of the city.
A small group of coins (silver and bronze) repre-
senting a female head (Hera?) wearing a Stephanos,
with a bunch of grapes on the reverse, appears to
bear on the obverse the enigmatic inscription ^AP-
AAI. There is a general agreement among numis-
TAUROMENIUM. TYNDARIS 201
matists to connect this coin, however hesitatingly,
with Tauromenium. But it can hardly belong to
the ordinary coinage of that city. One suggestion
is that it was struck at that mint for the Sar-
dinians ; in which case we may explain the obverse
type as the personification of their island. The
dative ^APAAI would then express the fact that
the coin was dedicated to Sardus, son of Maceris
or Heracles, and legendary founder of the Greek
colony in Sardinia. On this hypothesis, however,
inscription and type refer to two different persons;
and though such a lack of connexion is not impos-
sible, it is best to leave the question open.
The coinage of Tyndaris, which had doubtless
come to an end in the time of Agathocles, was
resumed during the reign of Hiero, probably after
the capture of Panormus by the Romans in 254.
The new coinage is all of bronze. A veiled female
head, wearing a stephane or a laurel-wreath, and
sometimes accompanied by a star, is without doubt
Helen (PI. XIV. 11). The majority of the types,
as in the earlier period, belong to her brothers
the Dioscuri : thus we have them on horseback,
charging; or standing, each holding a horse by
the bridle ; or standing, without horses ; or merely
their conical helmets, each surmounted by a star
(PI. XIV. 11). Other types belong to Zeus : we
202 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
have his head, laureate; his standing figure, hold-
ing sceptre and thunderbolt ; his eagle on a thunder-
bolt; or a thunderbolt alone. A figure of the god
Hermes sacrificing is generally supposed to repre-
sent a beautiful statue of the god, which the Car-
thaginians carried off to Africa, and which Scipio
restored to its home. As it must have been carried
off before 254, and the restoration of these works
of art took place in 146, the type, if it was
issued at the time to which it is usually assigned,
may really represent only a copy of the original
statue made to take its place ; or it may be merely
a memorial of the treasure which Tyndaris had
once possessed. Of the other types of Tyndaris the
most interesting is a little winged bust of Eros.
This varied bronze coinage is generally supposed
to have come to an end in 210, when Laevinus
brought the war in Sicily to its conclusion, and
reorganized the island as a Roman province. But
may we not argue from the Hermes type described
above that the lower limit assigned to these coins
of Tyndaris is too high, and that some of them
belong to the period after the fall of Carthage?
We shall be confronted with a similar question at
Thermae.
Lipara fell into the hands of Rome in 252. The
coins which it now issued are more striking than
TYNDARIS. LIPARA
203
artistic. In the case of the chief series, the head of
the fire-god Hephaestus wearing his pilos or work-
man's cap is the type of all the obverses. On the
reverse of the largest coin (Fig. 71) is the stern of
Fig. 71. LiPARA : Bronze Semis.
a galley, with the inscription AIPAPAION. The
value (half a litra) is expressed by six pellets. The
smaller coins have merely marks of value and the
inscription (abbreviated on the two-ounce piece to
A IP, on the ounce to Al). The weights of these
pieces, compared with those of Roman coins, show
that they belong to the period ending in 217. To
the same period belongs a coin with the head of
Athena in an Athenian helmet, and an owl, —
which should be compared with a piece struck at
the not far distant city of Calacte (p. 221).
We now return to the coins issued at Syracuse
and other cities under the Roman dominion. This
period begins in 241 for western Sicily, in 212
for Syracuse itself, and closes with the reign of
204 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
Tiberius. All the local coins which we shall hence-
forward meet with are of bronze. There are, how-
ever, a certain number of coins, issued by Roman
officials in Sicily, which really belong to the Roman
series; and to these the restriction of metals does
not apply.
The coinage of Sicily under Roman rule does
not seem in any way to be affected by the political
classification of the cities, and we shall find it more
instructive to deal with the various communities in
the order in which the importance of their coinage
seems to suggest that they should be placed.
The types of the coins of this period are
numerous, but the badness of their style destroys
a great deal of their interest. For the same reason,
added to the poorness of their preservation, it is
difficult to find specimens which will repay illus-
tration.
At Syracuse, the appearance of the Egyptian
deities Sarapis and Isis is characteristic of the
new age. The image of Isis, holding a flaming
torch, stands in a chariot drawn by four horses —
a representation of a festival in which the image of
the goddess was drawn about the city. Other coins
show the head of Sarapis, the figure of Isis standing,
holding her sistrum, the head of Isis, or even her
headdress of disc and horns. Numerous other
SYRACUSE. CATANA 205
deities are represented : the head of Zeus, and his
eagle on a thunderbolt; Victory in a two-horse
chariot, or sacrificing a bull ; the head of Athena ;
of Persephone ; of Demeter, veiled ; of Apollo ; of
the sun-god Helios, with a crown of rays ; of the
Roman double-faced god Janus ; of Asklepios ; of
Artemis. The two crossed torches are the symbol
of Demeter; the staff, with a serpent twining round
it, of Asklepios.
Next to Syracuse, the three cities of Catana,
Leontini, and Panormus are most important so far as
concerns the coinage of this time ; and an abundant
coinage in a province subject to Rome may be taken
as a fairly certain criterion of commercial activity,
though not necessarily of political rank.
Catana, which had all but disappeared from
history since its subjection to Dionysius, is repre-
sented under the Romans by a plentiful bronze
currency. Here too we see the influence of the
Egyptian cults, in types such as the heads of Sarapis
and Isis conjoined (PI. XIV. 13), a janiform head of
Sarapis (PI. XIV. 12), a figure of Isis, sometimes
accompanied by Harpocrates. But the most interest-
ing types of the city, and indeed of all Sicily in this
somewhat wearisome period, refer to the brothers
Amphinomus and Anapias, who were worshipped as
heroes at Catana. The story of how these brothers
2o6 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
saved their parents when the volcano poured out its
lava on the devoted town, and how the burning
stream miraculously parted to give them passage,
is well known. On the coins we have the two
brothers carrying their parents, sudantes venerando
pondere (PL XIV. i6). A similar type occurs on
silver denarii (PI. XV. 9) issued by Sextus Pompeius
in Sicily, and perhaps actually struck in Catana
itself, during the period when the son of the great
Pompeius held the island (42-36 B.C.). The original
of these representations was doubtless the group
of statues which existed at Catana, and has been
described by Claudian. Another type, which is of
some interest as showing the gradual intrusion of
Roman ideas into the Greek life, is the figure of
Equity {Aequitas), holding a pair of scales and
a cornucopiae (PI. XIV. 14). On the obverse of
the same coin is a head of Zeus Ammon, the
oracular god of the Libyan oasis, who is repre-
sented with ram's horns — another trace of Egyptian
influence (PI. XIV. 14).
The date of the cessation of the Catanaean coinage
is a disputed point. Mr. Head sees no proof that
it lasted longer than the beginning of the first
century B.C.; Holm points to the type of Aequitas
(so common on Roman coins after about the middle
of the first century of our era), as a sign of late date.
CATANA. LEONTINI 207
and supposes that the Catanaean coinage lasted
longer into the Empire than that of any other
Sicilian city ; just as Catana was the most important,
if not the only mint of Byzantine Sicily. But if
he is right, it is surprising that the coins of this
city, which received a Roman colony in the reign
of Augustus, show no Latin inscriptions.
Leontini, after a history very much like that of
Catana, reappears in the Roman period with a
considerable bronze coinage. Here we have chiefly
types relating to Demeter and the agricultural pur-
suits over which she presided : the goddess standing,
holding ears of corn and a torch ; her head veiled ;
a plough with a bird perched on it. But Apollo
is also well represented by his head, which appears
on numerous varieties; and the other old 'canting'
type, the lion, is not absent. The most remarkable
type, however, is a nude figure of a river-god
(PI. XIV. 15) seated on rocks, holding a cornu-
copiae and a branch, with a crab in the field.
On the obverse of this coin the bust of Demeter
is represented facing, with the leaves of the corn-
wreath radiating from her head, and a small plough
at the side (PI. XIV. 15).
From 254 onwards Panormus has a plentiful
though not very interesting coinage. The earlier
issues are inscribed PANOPMITAN. Among the
2o8 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
types are the triskeles with a Gorgon's head in
the middle — a ' contamination ' of triskeles and aegis
of Agathoclean origin (see p. 155). The head of
Concord (OMONOIA) is combined with an altar, as
on the ^alliance' coin of the Crimisus issued in the
fourth century, or with a cornucopiae. The ram
which is represented sometimes alone, sometimes
with a head of Janus beneath it, is probably
the symbol of the god Hermes, who himself
is figured seated on a rock. Some of the coins,
instead of the full name of the people, have
simply a monogram or group of letters which must
be resolved into PAP, i.e. nANOP[MITAN]. The
names of Roman officials first appear on the coins
of Panormus in a highly abbreviated form : for
instance, M. AVR(elius), L. ME. (L. Caecilius Metellus,
perhaps the successor of Verres), CATC (perhaps the
famous M. Porcius Cato of Utica). We ma^^ call
these pieces coins of Panormus, but must remember
that in all probability they were really struck for
circulation throughout the whole island in one of
its most important places. Most of these issues
with names of Roman officials and the monogram
of PAP have as their types the head of Zeus and
a standing figure of the god Mars, holding a
libation-bowl in his left hand. A variation in the
monogram is the form which must be resolved into
PANORMUS 209
nOR (the older form of the Latin P differed Httle
from the Greek). This has been explained by
Mommsen as the abbreviation of Por(tus)\ Holm
rightly recognizes that it may as well stand for
P(an)o}(mus).
In Panormus also Roman coins were possibly
issued by L. Sempronius Atratinus and M. Oppius
Capito, who were prefects of the fleet for Marcus
Antonius between 39 and 35 b.c. ; but this is
a matter of considerable uncertainty. Finally we
come to coins of the Imperial period. On a piece
with the Greek inscription PANOPMITAN the head
of Augustus is combined with the type (now
familiar as the emblem of Sicily) of a triskeles
having the Gorgon's head in the centre and ears
of corn between the legs. It was presumably in
the time of Augustus that Panormus received a
Roman colony with the title ' Colonia Augusta
Panhormitanorum.' Another coin of Augustus has
on the obverse his head with the Latin inscription
PANORMiTANORV(m), and on the reverse the head of
Livia with the inscription avgvs. If we interpret
this last word as Augusta, applying it to Livia,
then, since Livia did not receive that title until
after the death of her husband, this coin must have
been struck in the reign of Tiberius. But it is
just possible that the word contains the title of the
2IO FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
newly founded colony. Of coins certainly struck
after the death of Augustus, one represents him
with a radiate crown, a thunderbolt before his face;
on the reverse is a Capricorn (the sign of his con-
ception) and below it the triskeles with Gorgon's
head and ears of corn (PI. XIV. 17). The coin also
bears the names of the two chief magistrates (Duum-
viri) of the colony, Cneius Domitius Proculus and
Laetorius, in the form CN. DOM. proc. laetor iivir.
The coinage of the other Sicilian communities
comes far behind that which we have just dealt
with in quantity. At Acragas the cult of Asklepios,
of which we have already spoken, seems to gain in
importance, if we may judge from the coins. Thus
we now have the figure of the god standing to front,
his head laureate ; or he is represented by his
snake-encircled staff alone. Further, we have the
name of one of the state officials ACKAAPOC As
it is written against a head of Persephone, this
cannot be meant for the name of the god f AoKAanioq),
but, like CilCIOC on another specimen, must be the
signature of the monetary magistrate. Still the
occurrence of the name is some slight evidence of
the importance of the cult. In the time of Augustus,
although we still find the Greek inscription, the
Latin form of the city-name also occurs. Thus a
AGRIGENTUM. HALAESA 211
coin with the head of Augustus is inscribed avgvs.
P.P. (i.e, Augustus Pater Patriae) agrigentin. On
the reverse is a long inscription, — SALASSO COMI-
FiG. 72. Agrigentum : Bronze of Augustus.
TIALE SEX. RVFO IIVIR., and L. CLODIO RVFO PRO
COS., — which is to be interpreted : in the duum-
virate of Salassus Comitiahs and Sextus Rufus,
and the proconsulship of Lucius Clodius Rufus.
Halaesa (one of the ' free and exempt ' states)
strikes coins with the Greek inscription AAA I C AC
APX. The second word is the abbreviation of
APXANIAEIAC, Archonides, a contemporary of
Dionysius I, having founded the city. The types are
mostly Apolline (head or figure of the god, lyre,
tripod). These Greek coins are succeeded by coins
with Latin inscriptions, reading halaesa archonida
in variously abbreviated forms, and bearing also the
names of Roman magistrates.
Lilybaeum, the successor of Motya, and the fore-
runner of Marsala, although founded as early as 396,
struck no coins that can be attributed to it earlier
than the Roman period. It then begins with Apol-
p 2
212 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
line types (head of Apollo and tripod, or lyre).
The name of the people takes the form AIAYBAIITAN.
Coins with Greek inscriptions were also issued
here in the time of Atratinus, the officer of Marcus
Antonius; for one coin (PL XIV. i8) bears the in-
scription ATPATINO(u) nYOIAN on the reverse.
Pythion is the name of the magistrate or wealthy
citizen who defrayed the cost of the coinage, — a fact
expressed by the dative form AIAYBAIITAIC on the
obverse : Pythion ' dedicated ' the coin to the citizens
of Lilybaeum. The obverse type is a veiled female
head wearing a small mural crown— the personifi-
cation of the city. The head is enclosed in a
triangular frame, which gives the whole a curiously
modern appearance, as though it were a coat of
arms (PI. XIV. i8). The reverse design is the
Pythian tripod with a serpent twining round it — an
obvious allusion to the name of Pythion, but at the
same time, as an Apolline symbol, in keeping with
the rest of the coin-types of the city.
The latest coins of Lilybaeum belong to the time
of the Emperor Augustus. In addition to a coin
bearing his image and superscription CAESAR
AVGVSTVS, and a laureate head of Apollo with the
name of the proconsul Quintus Terentius Culleo
(Q_. TERENTIO CVLLEONE PRO COS. LILYB.), we have
coins bearing AVGV. in a laurel- wreath on the ob-
LILYBAEUM. ERYX. SEGESTA 213
verse and a lyre with lilybit. on the reverse. We
must either (with Mommsen) expand this into
K\c»\{stanorum) L\LYB\T{anorum), or regard the
former word as the abbreviation of Augustus,
whose name, on his own Roman coins, is not in-
frequently placed in a laurel-wreath.
While we are at Lilybaeum, we may deal with
the two neighbouring cities of Eryx and Segesta.
The former is represented by coins with the head
of Aphrodite, and Heracles resting on his club
(EPYKINAN). The latter has a more varied coinage.
The most interesting type is Aeneas carrying his
father Anchises from the ruins of Troy. The
obverse of this coin represents the city in the usual
way — a veiled and turret-crowned female head. The
Aeneas-type occurs also on a coin with the head of
Augustus; Aeneas carries the Palladium as well as
his father; above him is a crescent moon, and
behind him an eagle. The type is of course in-
spired by the tradition which assigned the founda-
tion of Segesta to fugitives from Troy, and of
which Vergil made use in the fifth book of the
Aeneid. Both forms ^EFECTAinN and EFESITAinN
occur on coins of this period.
We know from Cicero's accusation of Verres that
the Demeter (Ceres) of Henna was regarded by the
Romans as ' the oldest Ceres ' ; that the shameless
214 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
praetor brought away from this most sacred spot
the oldest and most precious of the statues of the
goddess, a bronze image holding torches; and that
he would also have brought away the figures of
Ceres and Triptolemus which stood before the
temple, had they not been so heavy that he had to
content himself with the figure of Victory which
Ceres held in her hand. Unfortunately, the coins
of Henna are as a rule ill preserved, but they show
a female figure holding in her left arm a small
figure carrying a torch, and in her right hand
another torch — apparently the Ceres-statue described
by Cicero. We find also a youthful male figure
holding a spear or sceptre. The reverse of this
last coin shows two winged snakes drawing a
plough. In the light of Greek vase paintings which
represent the inventor of the plough, sometimes
holding a sceptre, in a car drawn by serpents,
which are often winged, no one will hesitate to
recognize Triptolemus in the youthful figure of
our coin.
The later coins of Henna show that it had the
position of a municipium^ since the coins with Latin
inscriptions give the name as MVN. hennae or mvn.
HENNA. The duumviri of the place are M. CESTIVs
and L. MVN ATI vs. The most interesting type of
this group of coins represents Hades standing in
HENNA. TYNDARIS. LIPARA 215
a chariot drawn by four galloping horses, his mantle
inflated by the wind, and carrying Persephone
in his arm.
If the current view that the Greek coinage of
Tyndaris came to an end in 210 is correct, the
place must have been without a new coinage until
towards the close of our period. In the time of
Augustus it struck coins with the name of the
proconsul L. Mussidius (L. MVSSIDI procos). The
local duumvirs sign other coins, and we also find
the expression EX. D. D. (ex decreto decunonum),
corresponding to the EX. s. C. {ex Senatus consulto)
of Roman coins. This shows that the coins were
struck by order of the city council {ordo decun'onum).
The types of Tyndaris in this period still refer
mainly to the Dioscuri.
From Tyndaris we may cross the sea to Lipara.
The types of the coins issued after 217 are still
mainly Hephaestean, but now the god is represented
as a youth. We find him standing, swinging his
Fig. 73. Lipara : Bronze.
hammer as he strides along (Fig. 73), or sitting;
sometimes we have only his head, or his cap, or
2i6 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
his tongs. Next in importance to Hephaestus are
the maritime types : head of Poseidon (?), dolphin,
prow. The coins of this period read AIPAPAIAN.
To the last epoch of the coinage of this little island
belong coins issued by the duumviri of the com-
munity, who express themselves clumsily enough
in Greek: f. MAPKIOC AE. f. ACANEYC AYO ANAP.
i.e. Gains Marcius (son of) Lucius and Gains Aso-
neus(?), duumviri.
To return to the main island.
At Cephaloedium the form of the inscription,
when it is written in full, is the genitive singular
of the city-name KE^^AAOIAIOY. Holm pertinently
remarks that the citizens themselves were probably
not called ^inhabitants of Cephaloedium,' whatever
form the Greek ethnic adjective might take, but
Heracleotes, as we find them named on the earlier
Fig. 74. Cephaloedium : Bronze.
coins already described (p. 137 ^). The types are
nearly all connected with Heracles (e.g. Fig. 74,
' The truth of this remark is unaffected b}' the possibihty that
the earlier coins may have been struck not at Cephaloedium itself,
but elsewhere.
CEPHALOEDIUM. MAMERTINES 217
his head, and his lion's skin, club and bow and
quiver). The duumvir C. CANiNivs signs the only
coin of the town which shows a Latin inscription,
and even on this the name of the place is given
in Greek : KEcj^A.
The city of the Mamertines was one of the three
civitates foederatae (Neetum, of which no coins are
known, and Tauromenium being the others). The
coins of the Mamertines (all inscribed MAMEP-
TINAN) in the Roman period are distinguished from
the previous issues by (among other points) their
marks of value. The earliest is probably the sixth
of the litra, or hexas, marked by two pellets, since
the litra contained twelve ounces. Its types are
a young head of Ares (APEO^) and an armed
Athena. To another issue belong the five-ounce
pieces {pentonkta) which are marked with a P (PI.
XIV. 19) ; and to yet another a group of which the
largest coin is a half-litra, marked with six pellets.
Messana in the earliest period of its numismatic
history showed, as we have seen, a connexion with
the currency on the Italian side of the Straits ; and
this, its last coinage, belongs to the same system
as does that of Rhegium.
Thermae had ceased to coin early in the fourth
century, as a natural consequence of its proximity
to the great Carthaginian stronghold. Set free from
2i8 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
this restraint, it produced under the Romans a
small but interesting coinage. After the destruction
of Carthage in 146 Scipio restored to Thermae
certain bronze statues which the Carthaginians had
carried off. These were a figure of the city of
Himera as a woman, a statue of the poet Stesichorus
as a bent old man reading a book, and a cleverly
and gracefully modelled she-goat. It is pleasant
to find that, on four out of five varieties of coins
issued by Thermae, these sculptures are represented,
although the bad preservation of most of the speci-
mens makes illustration practically useless. On
the reverse of coins with the head of Heracles
we have either three female figures, the one in
the centre being veiled and wearing the city-crown,
or else a single figure veiled and wearing the city-
crown, holding a libation-bowl and a cornucopiae.
On another we have a veiled female head, and a
she-goat recumbent. Finally, the veiled female
head, wearing the city-crown, is associated with the
figure of an old man leaning on a staff and reading
in a book. This last coin is inscribed OEPMITAN
IMEPAIAN, the others merely OEPMITAN. For
reasons which have already suggested themselves
in dealing with the coinage of Tyndaris (p. 202), it
would seem that these coins belong at the earliest
to the latter half of the second century before Christ.
PAGE
I. Tauromenium: bronze (obv.) 199
3. Syracuse : 4 litrae , 197
3- ,, 2| „ (rev,) 197
4. Acragas : bronze (obv.) . 198
5. Syracuse : i^ litra 197
6. Tauromenium : gold (obv. and rev. from different specimens) 199
7. „ (8'75 grammes = 135 grains). Paris^ Bibliotheque
Nationale . 300
8. „ (3-29 grammes = 5C.9 grains) .... 199
9. „ litra 200
10. „ bronze (obv.) 200
11. Tyndaris; bronze 201
13. Catana : bronze (obv.). Patis^ Bibliotheque Nationale . . 205
13. » » » i^oS
14- » j» 206
15. Leontmi „ 207
j6. Catana „ (rev.) 206
17. Panormus, Augustus (posthumous) : bronze .... 210
18. Lilybaeum: bronze (obv. British Musettm, rev. Paris, Biblio-
theque Nationale) 212
19. Mamertini : bronze (5 ounces) 217
ao. Centuripae: bronze 219
21. » „ 219
2tR PR TfRFRIUS
dcstructiv :>
Thermae
/[jl^iaA''; itliaginian:-
re* ■ • • (•»*«) « t« « -8
8«jind. . . /- she-gi«rt>.) asnlW iM3^iai5fint
QQi (enamiD^qe insiaiftib raoil .vai bnis .vdo) blog : muinamoiUBT .d
ooeK- ,5U\itioii praqjtlCfitBti^ : '« ^ ' -
lOK • . • • . .9snoid zahfibn^T ,ii
sofiu- i-led'and weamng the city-craWn,
or else a bin^le figure veiled and wearin^jj^j c^y-
decrown,, holding a libation-bowl fetwd a«com9^9|^'
Dn .aiu)thcL wc haAC^.a, va^cg^ fcnicnc ne^iU, r-'ViU .
-oAoiE jznifl .V3T ,w«^&m\IV AM\na .vdo) asnoid imooBdl^IiJ .8i
"%hL>-goat .recumbent-. -Finally, ti^^'^^'^im^^'^ female
^^^Ka<!, wearing th yn, is aj^^^8H^^^i);ry\^)e
ei^ Id mi ^^ff and reading
This 1
others mer PMITAN. F( ;
clready suggested themsel\
inage of Tyndaris (p. 202),
would ins belong at the earli'
t * the latter halt ond century before Chr;
Plate XIV
THERMAE. SOLUS. GELA 219
The coins of Solus in this period are compara-
tively varied. To this mint Imhoof-Blumer assigns
certain uninscribed pieces, of which we may men-
tion those with the type of the tunny-fish. Solunto
still possesses a considerable tunny-fishery. The
later coins, which are perhaps of the first century
B.C., read COAONTINCON or COAONTINAN (Fig. 75).
Fig. 75. Solus : Bronze.
Centuripae was a comparatively important place
in the Roman period. The types of its coins relate
to Zeus (PI. XIV. 21), Apollo, Artemis, Heracles,
and Persephone ; the head of the last is associated
with a plough on which sits a bird (PI. XIV. 20), as
at Leontini.
Gela had been destroyed by the Mamertines, and
the remnant of its inhabitants were sheltered by
the tyrant Phintias of Acragas in a new town which
he named after himself. The people of Phintias
still called themselves Geloans, and in time some
of them returned to their old home ; in the Roman
period both cities existed. Presumably the late
coins reading FEAAIAN, of which the only interesting
type is that of a youth about to sacrifice a ram
220 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
(compare Fig. 51, p. 167), belong to Gela and not
to Phintias.
The remaining communities must be summarily
dismissed, for this catalogue of small things grows
more and more tedious.
The bull on the coins of Abacaenum (ABAKAININ)
is probably the river Helicon. Aetna has coins
with the head of the sun-god (rev., a warrior) and
of Persephone (rev., a cornucopiae) ; these are as
a rule marked with three and two pellets respec-
tively. At Agyrium we find a magistrate Sopatros
(Efll cnriATPOY) on a coin with a head of Zeus and
a hunter accompanied by his hound, a flying Vic-
FiG. 76. Hybla Megala : Bronze.
tory crowning him. This hunter is perhaps lolaus,
the friend of Heracles; for the demigod's head is
Fig. 77. Petra : Bronze.
the type of another coin, on the reverse of which
lolaus burns the heads of the Hydra. Acrae, Ame-
MINOR MINTS 221
stratus, Apollonia, Assorus, Calacte, Hybla Megala
(Fig. 76), laetia, Menae, Paropus, Petra (Fig. 77)
issue coins in this period for the first time. Of
these Assorus has Latin inscriptions (Fig. 78 :
ASSORV with a head of Apollo, and crysas with
Fig. 78. Assorus : Bronze.
a standing figure of the river-god Chrysas, holding
an amphora and cornucopiae). A coin of Calacte
of the second half of the third century is interest-
ing because it mimics the types of Athens : a head
of Athena, and an owl standing on an oil-amphora.
A similar coin, but without the amphora, was, as
we have seen (p. 203), issued by Lipara. That
Hybla Megala should have a bee for one of its
types is only to be expected of the famous honey-
farming place. Menae (or Menaenum), which was
a fairly important town, has a goodly variety of
coins, but no remarkable novelties of type (PI.
XV. I represents Sarapis).
At Entella (ENTEAAINAN) we have a representa-
tion of the city-goddess with libation-bowl and
cornucopiae, associated with the head of Helios and
222 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
the name of Atratinus (ATPATINOY) which we have
already found on a coin of Lilybaeum (p. 212).
Haluntium, which had issued bronze money for
a short time in the fourth century, makes its re-
appearance in the Roman period. The reverse of
one of the coins (Fig. 79), of which the obverse is
Fig. 79. Haluntium : Bronze.
a bearded head of Heracles, represents an eagle
standing on a portion of a carcase. More remark-
able is the piece of which the obverse (PI. XV. 2)
represents a young male head, in a bonnet adorned
with a wreath; while on the reverse (PI. XV. 3) is
a human-headed bull, made more than usually gro-
tesque by the stream of water which runs from his
mouth. The head is presumably that of the hero
Patron, an Acarnanian who led some of the fol-
lowers of Aeneas to found the city of Haluntium.
The bull is obviously a river-god, —whether a local
stream or, as Holm suggests, the famous Achelous,
which flowed between Acarnania and Aetolia, it is
difficult to say.
Nacona, which we have found issuing a small
HALUNTIUM. NACONA 223
coinage fitfully from the fourth century onwards,
reappears in this period, if a number of coins,
chiefly with maritime types (trident, head of Posei-
don), and inscribed merely N or NA, can be safely
attributed to that city. These coins are found
near Solunto, so that the site of the city which
produced them must be looked for on the coast in
that neighbourhood.
The most puzzling coin of this period is perhaps
one reading . . . ANAs: (the beginning of the word
is illegible) on the obverse, and apparently OHPAIAN
on the reverse. The types (Fig. 80) are the head
Fig. 80. Uncertain Bronze.
of a young river-god, with horns, wearing a crown
of reeds, and a figure of the god Pan dancing
before three busts, which, to judge from the better
preserved specimens, rise above a kind of screen.
The attribution of the coin must remain quite un-
certain until a specimen is found on which the
name of the river-god can be read in its entirety.
The last series of Sicilian coins with which we
are concerned comprises the Roman denarii and
224 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
aurei issued in the island in the latter half of the
first century b.c.
Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus and Caius Claudius
Marcellus were consuls together in 49 B.C., and fled
from Rome at the approach of Caesar. One of the
denarii which they issued in Sicily (PI. XV. 4) has
the type of the winged Gorgon's head in the middle
of a triskeles, between the legs of which are ears
of corn. On the other side is Jupiter holding
thunderbolt and eagle; in the field, a pruning-
hook, and the names LEUT{ulus) MAR{ce//us)
CO{n)S{ules). There is, however, no reason to sup-
pose that another denarius, with the names of the
same consuls and also bearing a figure of Jupiter
on the reverse, was struck in Sicily. It belongs
rather to the East.
Aulus Allienus, a partisan of Julius Caesar, was
proconsul in Sicily in e.g. 48. In this year, or in
the next, he issued a denarius which concerns
us (PL XV. 5). On the obverse are the titles
of Caesar—c. caesar \MP{erator) co{n)s{ul) \TER{um)
— and the head of Venus. As the Julian gens
claimed descent from lulus, the grandson of Venus
and Anchises, the head of Venus is an appro-
priate and not uncommon type on coins of Julius
Caesar. On the reverse we read A. allienvs
PRO . CO{n)S(ule). The type is a youthful figure
ROMAN ISSUES 225
standing with his right foot on a prow, his left arm
wrapped in his mantle, and the triskeles as the
symbol of Sicily in his hand. The resemblance in
pose of this figure to the god Neptune, combined
with his youthful appearance and the symbol in
his hand, leaves no doubt that he is the hero
Trinacrus, son of Neptune, who was invented to
account for the name Trinacria which the island
bore.
We have already (p. 206) mentioned the fact that
Sextus Pompeius issued coins with types recalling
those of Catana. These belong to a class which
may be described together here. They are chiefly
silver denarii, and all read on the obverse mag. pivs
IMP. ITER, and on the reverse praef. clas. et
ORAE MARIT. EX s. c. That is to Say, they de-
scribe Sextus Pompeius by his titles of Magnus
Pius, Imperator for the second time, prefect of the
fleet and of the sea-coast, and the coins are de-
scribed as issued by order of the Senate. We
find as types :
Obv. Head of Neptune with trident; rev, naval
trophy, consisting of trident, helmet, cuirass, prow
and aplustre, anchor, and the foreparts of two marine
monsters (PL XV. 6).
Obv, The Lighthouse of Messana, with Neptune
on the top and a ship before it; rev. Scylla, with
Q
226 FROM HIERO II TO TIBERIUS
double tail, wolves or dogs at her waist, and
brandishing an oar (PI. XV. 7).
Obv. Head of Sextus Pompeius ; rev. heads of Cn.
Pompeius (the Great) and his son Cn. Pompeius,
accompanied by the augur's staff {lituus) and a
tripod respectively. This is of gold (PI. XV. 8).
Obv. Head of Pompeius the Great, between augur's
staff (lituus) and sacrificial ewer ; rev. the Catanaean
brothers, with Trinacrus between them (PL XV. 9).
Another denarius of this period has on the ob-
verse NEPTVNi and a head of Pompeius the Great,
on the reverse Q_, nasidivs and a ship (PI. XV. 10).
Nasidius was one of Sextus' admirals. Finally, cer-
tain rude bronze coins which read hispanorvm were
struck in Sicily for the convenience of the Spanish
troops employed there by Sextus Pompeius.
PLATE XV
1. Menae : bronze (obv.)
2. Haluntium : bronze (obv.)
3. „ „ (rev.). Imhoof- Blunter Collection
4. L. Cornelius Lentulus and C. Claudius Marcellus : denarius
5. A. Allienus : denarius .
6. Sextus Pompeius : denarius
7' » » »
8. „ „ gold
9. „ „ den<
10. Q. Nasidius : denarius
>
arius
II. Melita: bronze
12. ,,
13-
14- »
15' :> »
16. Gaulos „
17. Cossura „ (obv.)
18. „ „
PACK
221
222
222
224
224
. 225
226
226
206, 226
226
. 228
. 228
. 228
. 228
229
229
. 230
. 230
22(
oar (P
Sextu^
I ^ompeius^
tnpod respective .^old (PK XV.
»oM^V,... [j^.,, .cat between aiigurs i
I8C .... . (.vdo) dsnoid .: ^enam .i ^
rt^aff {liiuus) anc f.'>db)'^hoitfYmfeicrf^Ss^'' -^
Mothers, A\«Vf'^^^^'^'^^"^^^-Vo<^»^V;.-.^^i)hL^r^ (PI. XV. 9^ |
^,, Another. < , ; 1 .tins :^^^ ob- |
S5£ ., ^^EPTVN^ ami ■ j!i|iiB^?t? :cMh>q«ioij[reci:fe&\&.t. |
!2 «''^r' vv NASfOtvs an-la ship"(P ^-v I
dsjSi.oM.Hus wa- f .Sextus2iihittdl>}ai<. „ FinaUy, q^i^ ^
"^^ ude bronze eoirls Which r(3j™^^;^i^^ |
8ssi Sicily for tlie .convenience oi\the §,pan^h |
oloyed there by Sextus Pompeiir « -^^
0£2 (.vdo) ,j B1U220D ,^I
0£S ,, u -81
Plate XV
APPENDIX
The Maltese Group and Pantellaria
The islands of Melita {Malta\ Gaulos {Gozo\ and
Cossura {Pantellaria) are now generally regarded
by numismatists as belonging more to Africa than
to Sicily. The result is that in works adopting the
usual geographical order — from west to east along
the European, and from east to west along the
African coast of the Mediterranean — nearly the whole
thickness of the book intervenes between Sicily and
this group of islands. But the Romans attached
these three islands to the province of Sicily, and
the older numismatists followed their example. We
have the sanction of Holm for returning to the old
arrangement.
The coinage of all three islands is later than their
acquisition by the Romans, who took Melita, and
probably also Gaulos, in 218, and Cossura in the
next year. Cossura indeed had fallen into the hands
of the Romans in the first Punic war, but only to be
lost again.
The Phoenician element in the population of the
islands was of course predominant, and at both
Melita and Cossura the earliest coins bear Phoenician
inscriptions. The name of Melita appears to have
' . ' 02
228 APPENDIX
been 'nn (three letters to which, of course, the vowels
would be added if we knew what they were). The
more important types of these Phoenician coins are
a head of Heracles, with a caduceus in front of it,
combined with a priest's cap in a laurel wreath
(PI. XV. ii); and a female head, veiled, and wearing
a stephane, with the figures of three Egyptian deities
(PL XV. 12). In the middle is the mummy of Osiris
holding a flail and sceptre ; on either side of him is
a goddess, with wings lowered and crossed in front,
wearing the solar disc between horns. These two
deities are probably Isis and Nephthys. Other
types which are combined with the veiled female
head are a ram's head (PI. XV. 13) and a tripod
(PI. XV. 14). On the last coin the inscription is
repeated on each side of the tripod.
For the most part contemporary with the coins
just described, but also in some cases later, are the
Greek coins with the inscription MEAITAIAN. On
these we have a similar veiled female head associated
with a tripod ; and this coincidence (which recurs on
the Latin coins) prompted Albert Mayr to remove the
coins reading 'nn from Gaulos (their traditional attri-
bution) to Melita. Besides the tripod we also find
a lyre associated with the same head. But the con-
nexion of these instruments with the obverse type is
probably accidental; it will already have become
abundantly clear that the reverse type is not neces-
sarily always related to the obverse. And just as —
to take the first instance that comes to hand— at
Lilybaeum the tripod, which on one coin is associated
with a head of the city-goddess, is combined on
MELITA. GAULOS 229
another with the head of Apollo, so here at Mehta
the lyre and tripod both occur on coins with the
head of the deity to whom they belong, Apollo,
as well as in the other connexion. The veiled head
is probably a Hellenized representation of the Phoe-
nician goddess Astarte. The most curious of these
Greek coins is one bearing the figure of a god with
four wings (PL XV. 15). The type is a Phoenician
'contamination' of some Egyptian deit}'' (Osiris?);
for he wears the Egyptian crown, and holds the
Egyptian symbols of sovereignty, the sceptre and
flail, while the four wings are a Phoenician feature.
The head on the obverse of this coin is that of Isis.
It is accompanied sometimes by an ear of barley —
for Isis, in one of her aspects, was a corn-deity —
sometimes by a symbol which appears to combine
the caduceus with the Egyptian ankh or sign of life.
The Latin language makes its appearance on coins
issued towards the end of the first century B.C.
Thus on the reverse of a piece with the veiled head
and the usual Greek inscription we find the name
of a Roman propraetor c. arrvntanvs balb. pro pr.
His type is a sella curidiSy the curule chair of office
used by consuls, praetors, and curule aediles. Balbus
was propraetor probably in the early years of Octa-
vian's rule, before 27. The name of Melita is given
in Latin (ME lit AS) on another late coin with the
veiled head and tripod.
Gaulos, being robbed of the coins with Phoenician
inscriptions formerly attributed to it, can boast of
only one kind of coin (PI. XV. 16). The type of the
obverse is a female head placed on a crescent moon
230- APPENDIX
— doubtless the Phoenician moon-goddess Astarte,
who had a temple on the island. On the reverse
is a warrior with his spear accompanied by a star;
the legend is TAYAITAN.
Cossura has some puzzling coins. The Phoenician
inscription 'trnm, whatever may be its full form,
seems to be the equivalent of Cossura ; for we find
it used in just the same associations as the Latin
name COSSVRA. The obverse type is a female head,
wearing a low headdress of the kind known as
'modius' (PL XV. 17), sometimes with a figure of
Victory crowning her (PL XV. 18). Two long locks
of hair depend from behind the ears, and the uraeus-
serpent is visible projecting from the forehead; oc-
casionally, too, we see the solar disc with uraei and
plumes on the top of the 'modius.' The goddess
is doubtless a combination of Isis and Astarte. On
the reverse is the inscription within a wreath of
laurel ; and, in one case, there is added to the Latin
inscription cossvra a Phoenician sign, known as the
sign of Baal (PL XV. 18). We have already found
this sign on coins struck by the Carthaginians in
Sicily. The Phoenician inscription 'irnm is on one
coin replaced by 'z.
These varieties are all which can with any cer-
tainty be ascribed to the three islands, or at least
all of which the details are sufficiently well pre-
served to repay description.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY^
1697. La Sicilia di Filippo Paruta descritta con Medaglie
e ristampata con aggiunta da L. Agostini, hora in
miglior ordine disposta da M. Maier. Lyons. (En-
gravings.)
1781-1791. Siciliae Populorum et Urbium, Regum quoque
et Tyrannorum Veteres Nummi Saracenorum
Epocham antecedentes. By Gabriel L. Castellus,
Prince of Torremuzza. Palermo, 1781 ; Auctarium,
1789; Auctarium II, 1791. (Engravings.)
1792-1798. Doctrina Numorum Veterum. By J. Eckhel.
Vol. I, pp. 184-271.
1808-1822. Description de Medailles antiques grecques et
romaines. By T. E. Mionnet. Paris. Vol. I,
second edition (1822), pp. 207-345; Supplement
Vol. I (1819), pp. 357-463. Planches (1808) : PL 61,
62, 66-68. (Engravings.)
1831. Les Graveurs des Monnaies grecques. By D. Raoul-
Rochette. Paris. (Engravings.)
1839. Poids des Medailles grecques . . . du Cabinet royal de
France. By T. E. Mionnet. Paris.
1840. Choix de Medailles grecques. By the Due de Luynes.
Paris. Plates VI-VIII. (Engravings.)
^ In this bibliography, by ' photographic plate ' is meant a repro-
duction by collotype or some similar process, as distinguished
from half-tone blocks, zincotypes, or wood-cuts. The distinction
is important, since in the collotype process the personal equation
of the reproducer is reduced to its lowest terms.
232 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
1843. Numismatique de Syracuse. By the Due de Luynes.
[Revue Numismatique.] Paris. (Engravings of
legends.)
1852. Monografia delle Monete Consolari-Sicule. By F.
and L. Landolina-Paterno. Naples. (Engravings.)
1854. Numismata Hellenica. By W. M. Leake. London.
Insular Greece, pp. 48-80. See also 1859.
1857. Sulle Monete Punico-Sicule. By Gr. • Ugdulena.
[Accademia di Scienze e Lettere di Palermo.]
Palermo. (Engravings.)
1859. Numismata Hellenica. Supplement. By W.M.Leake.
London. Pp. 152-174.
1861. Numismatique de I'ancienne Afrique. By L. MuUer.
Copenhagen. Vol. II, pp. 65 ff. (Engravings.)
1865. Histoire de la Monnaie romaine. By Th. Mommsen,
translated by the Due de Blacas. Paris. Vol. I,
pp. 102-134.
1867. Le monete delle antiche citta di Sicilia. By A. Salinas.
Palermo. [Only completed as far as Catana, PL XIX.]
(Engravings. No text.)
1868-1870. Griechische Munzen aus der Sammlung Imhoof-
Blumer, 1868. By F. Imhoof-Blumer. [BerHner
Blatter fiir Munz-, Siegel-, und Wappenkunde, V.]
Berlin. (Engravings.)
1869. Sur quelques Monnaies grecques de Panormus. By
F. Imhoof-Blumer. [Revue Numismatique.]
Paris.
1871. Choix de Monnaies grecques. By F. Imhoof-Blumer.
Winterthur. PI. VIII, IX. (Engravings.)
1871. Die Kunstlerinschriften auf griechischen Munzen. By
A. von Sallet. Berlin.
1872. lUustrazioni storiche sulle Monete della Antica Sicilia.
By F. and L. Landolina-Paterno. Part I. Calta-
nissetta. (Engravings.)
1872. Die Munzen von Selinunt und ihre Typen. By F.
Imhoof-Blumer. Winterthur.
1843-1887 233
1873- The Use of the Coins of Kamarina in Illustration of
the Fourth and Fifth Olympian Odes of Pindar.
By R. S. Poole. [Transactions of the Royal Society
of Literature.] London.
1874. On the Chronological Sequence of the Coins of
Syracuse. ByB.V. Head. [Numismatic Chronicle.]
London. (Photographic Plates.)
1875. Zu den Kiinstlerinschriften auf griechischen Munzen.
By A. von Sallet. [Zeitschrift fur Numismatik.]
Berhn. (Engravings.)
1876. British Museum. Catalogue of Greek Coins. Sicily;
b}^ R. S. Poole, B. V. Head, P. Gardner. London.
(Engravings.)
1876. Sicilian Studies. By P. Gardner. [Numismatic
Chronicle.] London. (Photographic Plates, and
epigraphic table.)
1877. Berhn Museum. Das Konigliche Miinzkabinet. By
J. Friedlander und A. von Sallet. Second edition.
Berlin. Pp. 152-175. (Engravings.)
1882. Le Systeme monetaire eubo'ique. By F.Imhoof-Blumer.
[Annuaire de la Soc. fran9aise de Numismatique ;
transl. from Monatsberichte der k. Akad. der
Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1881.] Paris.
1882. The Types of Greek Coins. By P. Gardner. Cam-
bridge. (Photographic Plates H, VI, XI.)
1883. Monnaies grecques. By F. Imhoof Blumer. [Aca-
demic Royale Neerlandaise des Sciences.] Paris et
Leipzig. Pp. 14-37. (Photographic Plates.)
1884. Die Kunstlerinschriften der sicilischen Munzen. By
R. Weil. [Winckelmannsfest-Programm xliv.]
Berlin. (Photographic Plates.)
1886. Zur Miinzkunde Grossgriechenlands, Siciliens, &c.
By F. Imhoof-Blumer. [Numismatische Zeitschrift.]
(Photographic Plates.)
1887. Historia Numorum. By B. V. Head. Oxford. Pp.
xliv-lv, 98-168. (Half-tone blocks.)
234 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
1888. Die Sprache der sicilischen Elynier. By K. F. Kinch.
[Zeitschrift fur Numismatik.]
1890. Some New Artists' Signatures on Sicilian Coins. By
A. J. Evans. [Numismatic Chronicle.] London.
(Photographic Plates.) Reprinted with slight altera-
tions in the same author's Syracusan ' Medallions '
and their Engravers, 1892.
1892. Syracusan 'Medallions' and their Engravers. By
A. J. Evans. [Reprinted, with additions, from the
Numismatic Chronicle of 1890 and 1891.] London.
(Photographic Plates.)
1894. Contributions to Sicilian Numismatics, I. By A. J.
Evans. [Numismatic Chronicle.] London. (Photo-
graphic Plates.)
1894. History of Sicily. By E. A. Freeman. Vol. IV, with
sections on Numismatics, by A. J. Evans. (Photo-
graphic Plate.) Oxford.
1894. Die antiken Miinzen der Inseln Malta, Gozo und
Pantelleria. By A. Mayr. Munich. (Photographic
Plates.)
1894. Topografia e Numismatica dell' antica Imera. By
E. Gabrici. [Rivista Italiana di Numismatica.]
Milan. (Photographic Plates.)
1894. Tetradrachme archaique de Syracuse. By J. A.
Blanchet. [Revue Numismatique.] Paris. 1894.
(Engraving.)
1894. Sale Catalogue of the Carfrae Collection. London.
Lots 40-90. (Photographic Plates.)
1894. Acragas, ou le Piree pris pour un homme. By Th.
Reinach. [Revue Archeologique. Re-issued in the
same author's L'Histoire par les Monnaies, 1902.]
Paris.
1895. British Museum. Guide to the Principal Gold and
Silver Coins of the Ancients, from circ. B.C. 700 to
A.D. I. By B. V. Head. Fourth edition. London.
(Photographic Plates 9, 16, 17, 25, 26, 35, 46, 47.)
1888-1898 235
i895- S^^ 1^ Valeur relative des Metaux monetaires dans la
Sicile grecque. By Th. Reinach. [Revue Numis-
matique. Re-issued in the same author's UHistoire
par les Monnaies, 1902.] Paris. (Photographic
Plates.)
1895. Catalogue de la Collection des Medailles grecques de
M. le Chevalier Walcher de Molthein. Paris and
Vienna. Nos. 336-775. (Photographic Plates.)
1895. Sale Catalogue of the Collection of the Earl of
Ashburnham. London. Lots 29-68. (Photographic
Plates.)
1896. Contributions to Sicilian Numismatics, IL By A. J.
Evans. [Numismatic Chronicle.] London. (Photo-
graphic Plates.)
1896. Rundschau iiber ein Quinquennium der antiken
Numismatik. By W. Kubitschek. Pp. 16 ff.
Vienna.
1896. Sale Catalogue of the Montagu Collection, Part L
London. Lots 85-186. (Photographic Plates.)
1896. Sale Catalogue of the Collection of Sir E. Bunbury,
Part I. London. Lots 258-551. (Photographic
Plates.)
1897. Sale Catalogue of the Montagu Collection, Part IL
London. Lots 41-98. (Photographic Plates.)
1898. Geschichte des sicilischen Miinzwesens bis zur Zeit
des Augustus. By A. Holm. [Pp. 543-571 of
Vol. Ill of his Geschichte Siciliens im Alterthum.]
Leipzig. (Photographic Plates.)
1898. 'la-TopLa T&v No/uto-/xara)r. By B. V. Head, translated
(from the edition of 1887) by J. N. Svoronos. Athens.
(Photographic Plates.)
1898. Syracuse, ses Monnaies d'argent et d'or au point de vue
artistique. By Comte Alberic du Chastel de la
Howardries. London. (Photographic Plates.)
1898. The Legend I ATOM on coins of Himera. By G. Mac-
donald. [Numismatic Chronicle.]
236 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY, 1898-1902
1898. Review of Adolf Holm, Geschichte Siciliens im
Alterthum, by A. J. Evans. [Numismatic Chronicle.]
1898. Sale Catalogue of the Hoffmann Collection. Paris.
Lots 106-208. (Photographic Plates.)
1898. Sale Catalogue of the Collection of *a Well-known
Archaeologist and Traveller.' London. Lots
36-115. (Photographic Plates.)
1899. Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection,
University of Glasgow. By G. Macdonald. Vol. I.
(Italy, Sicily, &c.), pp. 153-262. Glasgow. (Photo-
graphic Plates.)
1900. Kvindehovedet paa de aeldre M^nter fra Syrakus. By
Chr. J^rgensen. [Festskrift til J. L. Ussing.]
Copenhagen. (On the female head on the Syracusan
coins. Photographic Plate and half-tone blocks.)
1900. Sale Catalogue of the Collection of ' a Late Collector/
London. Lots 81- 181. (Photographic Plates.)
1901. Numismatica di Lipara. By G Tropea. Messina.
(Photographic Plates.)
1901. Numismatica Siceliota del Museo Mandralisca in
Cefalii. Part I. By G. Tropea. Messina.
1902. Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Greek Coins belong-
ing to J. Ward. By G. F. Hill. [In ' Greek Coins
and their Parent Cities,' by J. Ward.] London.
Nos. 130-371. (Photographic Plates.)
1901, 1902. Ancient Greek Coins. Syracuse, Sicily. By
F. Sherman Benson. [American Journal of Numis-
matics, April, 1901, foil.] (Photographic Plates.)
1888-1902. Greek Coins acquired by the British Museum.
By W. Wroth. [Numismatic Chronicle; annual
articles, in progress.] (Photographic Plates.)
INDEX I
SUBJECTS
*^* The Roman numerals in brackets indicate the five different
periods (described in chapters I to V) to which the various coinages
belong. Words in italics (except in cross-references) represent either
Roman or Punic inscriptions.
Abacaenum, coinage (ii.) 91 ; (iii.)
139; (v.) 220.
Acesines, R., 132.
Achelous, R., as bull, 222.
Acrae, 15 ; coinage (v.) 220.
Acragas (city), 16-36 ; coinage (i.)
43»49. 50; (ii-) 65; (iii.) 119-22;
(iv.) 164-6; (v.) 198, 199,210,211 ;
types imitated elsewhere, 94, 95,
140, 147.
Acragas, R., 50 ; as charioteer, 120;
head of, 164, 166.
Acragas, supposed silver-chaser,
120 ^
Aeginetic weight-standard, 41 f.
Aegis of Athena, Syracuse, iii.
Aegusa, 31.
Aeneas carrying Anchises, Segesta,
213.
Aequitas, Catana, 206.
Aetna (Catana), coinage (ii.) 74, 75.
Aetna (Inessa), 75, 182; coinage (iv.)
182 ; (v.) 220.
Aetna, Mt., 75.
Africa, Agathocles in, 26; per-
sonified, 156 ; symbolized by
lion, 55.
African types on Punic coins, 144,
145-
Agathocles, 25-8 ; coinage, 152-
9; triskeles of, 8, 153; relations
with Ptolemy, 156 ; assumes
royal title, 155, 158.
Agathocles, son of Agathocles, 28.
Agathyrnon conquered by Tyn-
daris, 172.
Agathyrnos, figure of,Tyndaris, 172.
Agrigentum. See Acragas.
Agrippa, 34.
Agyrium, 13 ; coinage (iii.) 139 ;
(iv.) i52\ 177 ; (v.) 220.
Alexander of Epirus, 152.
Alexander the Great, influence of
his coinage, 144, 145.
* Alliance ' coinage, 10, 175.
Allienus, Aulus, 224.
Altar, of the Crimisus, 180 ; Panor-
mus, 208.
Amenanus, R., as man-headed bull,
Catana, 49 ; horned human head,
Catana, 77, 133.
Amestratus, coinage (v.) 220, 221.
Ammachanat, 143.
Ammon. See Zeus Amnton.
Amphinomus and Anapias, the
Catanaean brothers, Catana, 205,
206, 226.
Amphorae, prize, Camarina, 126.
Anabates, Himera, 68 ; Motya, 94.
238
INDEX I
Anapias. See Amphinomus.
Anapus, R., 21 ; head of, Syracuse,
151-
Anaxilas of Rhegium and Zancle,
17, 46, 47, 69.
Andromachus of Tauromenium, 24.
Ankh and caduceus combined,
Melita, 229.
Antandrus, brother of Agathocles,
155-
Antiphemus, founder of Gela, 167.
Antonius (M.), 34, 209.
Aphrodite, head of, Eryx, 89, 142,
213 ; seated, with dove, 136, 173 ;
with Eros, 136. See also Venus.
Apolline types. SeeLyre^Omphalos,
Tripod.
Apollo, figure of, Halaesa, 211.
head of, Acragas, 165 ; Agy-
rium, 177 ; * Alliance,' 175 ; As-
sorus, 221 ; Catana, 76, 132, 133 ;
Catana and Leontini, 133 ; Cen-
turipae, 219; Halaesa, 211; Leon-
tini, 78, 79, 134, 207 ; Lilybaeum,
212, 229 ; Melita, 229 ; Naxos,
131 ; Olynthus, 79 ; Panormus,
93 ; Punic, 146^ ; Syracuse, 118,
154, i55j 186, 197, 205; Tauro.
menium, 170, 171, 199, 200;
Tyndaris, 172, 173.
head of, with serpent, Acragas,
198.
lion of, 48.
statue at Acragas, 199.
with Artemis in chariot, Seli-
nus, 84.
Apollonia, coinage (v.) 221.
Archagathus, son of Agathocles,
27.
Archaism, conscious, at Syracuse,
no. III.
Archias, head of, Syracuse, 151.
Archimedes, 32.
Archonides, 211.
Ares, head of, Acragas, 165 ; En-
tella, 183 ; Lipara, 182 ; Mamer-
tines, 169, 217 ; Syracuse, 151,
154, 155, 186; Tyrrhenians, 184.
See also Mars.
Arethusa, head of, Syracuse, 44,
98 f., 106, 107, in; imitated at
Motya, 140, 141 ; outside Sicily,
107.
Armour. See Panoply.
Arruntanus Balbus, 229.
Artemis, as birth-goddess, Selinus,
84; as huntress, Syracuse, 195,
196.
head of, Acragas, 166 ; Cen-
turipae, 219 ; Mamertines, 170 ;
Syracuse, 45, 118, 162, 197, 205.
Saviour, head of, Syracuse,
157-9.
Artists employed at mint, 11 ;
signatures of, 60-4, 76, 77, 100-
3, 106-11, 121, 125-7.
Asines, R., 132.
Asklepios, altar of, Selinus, 84, 85 ;
cock sacred to, 40; figure of,
Acragas, 210 ; head of, Acragas,
210 ; Syracuse, 205 ; young head
of, Acragas, 199.
Asoneus, G., 216.
Ass, Silenus on, Nacona, 133.
Assinaria, festival, 97, loi.
Assinarus, battle of the, 19, 97,
lOI.
Assinos, R., head of, Naxos, 132.
Assorus, coinage (v.) 221.
Astarte, head of, Gaulos, 230 ;
MeHta, 229.
Astarte- Isis, head of, Cossura, 230.
Astragalos, Himera, 66.
Athena, cult at Camarina, 125 ;
driving chariot, Camarina, 80,
126 ; figure of, Camarina, 51, 167 ;
Mamertines, 217 ; Syracuse, 162,
164; figure of, facing, Himera,
128 ; Tyrrhenians, 184.
head of, Aetna-Inessa, 182 ;
Calacte, 221 ; Camarina, 127,
167 ; Eryx, 142 ; Leontini, 134 ;
SUBJECTS
239
Lipara, 203 ; Morgantina, 139 ;
Punic, 146^ ; Syracuse, 108 (fac-
ing), III, 114, 117, 154, 157, 158,
162, 163, 174, 196, 197, 205;
Tauromenium, 171, 200 ; Tyr-
rhenians, 184.
Athena, head of, with serpent, Mor-
gantina, 179.
winged, Syracuse, 156.
types connected with. See
Gorgon, Olive, Owl.
Athenian hopHte, 124.
Athens, coins of, circulating in
Sicily, 37, 116; interferes in
Sicily, 19, 97; naval defeat of,
425, 64 ; relations with Diony-
sius I, 22 ; with Messana, 71 ;
with Segesta, 88 ; types imitated,
221 ; weight-standard, 41, 187.
Atratinus, 209, 212, 222.
Attributes of deities, 8.
AugH., 212, 213.
Augur's staff, denarius, 226 ;
aureus, 226.
Angus., 209.
Augus. P. P. Agrigentin., 211.
Augustus, 34, 35; head of, Agri-
gentum, 211 ; Lilybaeum, 212 ;
Panormus, 209, 210; Segesta,
213.
Aurei issued in Sicily, 226.
Aurelius (M.), 208.
B.
Baal, sign of, Cossura, 230 ; Punic,
i45> 230.
Bacchylides' fifth ode, to Hiero, 44.
Balbus, Arruntanus, 229.
Barbarian imitations of types, 183.
Barley-corns, Acragas, 65 ; Henna,
178 ; Leontini, 48, 78, 79 ; Gela,
123.
Barley-ear or stalk, Gela, 123;
Melita, 229 ; Morgantina, 90 ;
Syracuse, 106, 163 ; between legs
of triskeles, Panormus, 209, 210 ;
denarius, 224.
Barley-ears and torch, ' Alliance,'
175 ; Henna, 178.
Barley-plant, Eryx, 90 ; Messana,
130 ; Segesta, 87.
Barley-wreath worn by river-god
Gelas, 125.
Bars of metal, circulation of, 37.
Baths near Himera, 39, 67.
Bee, Hybla Megala, 221.
Beetle, scarabaeus, Catana-Aetna,
75-
Bell attached to fillet, Catana, 76,
77-
Bird, aquatic, Catana, 49 ; Selinus,
85; Solus, 95; on plough, Cen-
turipae, 219 ; Leontini, 207.
Blank, 3.
Boar, Abacaenum, 91 ; Acragas,
166.
Border, 6 ; broken by type, 72.
Boundary-mark, 88.
Bow, Catana, 133 ; Syracuse, 118 ;
with quiver, lion's skin and club,
Cephaloedium, 216.
Bronze, importance in Sicily, 2,
42, 113, 150; introduced at Syra-
cuse, 113.
Bull, Abacaenum, 220 ; Catana and
Leontini, 133; Gela, 167 (on
barley-ear) ; Hadranum, 176 ;
Heracleotes, 137 ; Mataurus or
Campanians, 185 ; Selinus, 84
(on pedestal) ; Silera, 179-80 ;
Syracuse, 154, 193 ; Taurome-
nium, 171, 200.
head of, Tauromenium, 200.
Cp. Ox.
human-headed, Agyrium, 139 ;
Catana, 49 ; Entella, 91 ; Eryx,
142; Gela, 50, 81, 83, 123, 124;
Haluntium, 222 (stream issuing
from mouth) ; Herbessus, 178-9 ;
Panormus, 93 ; Selinus, 86 ;
Stiela, 92 ; Tauromenium, 171.
240
INDEX I
Bull, human-headed, youth on,
Panormus, 93.
Bull, subdued by Heracles, Se-
linus, 85 ; Solus, 95.
Busts, three. Pan dancing before,
Uncertain, 223.
C.
Cabala, battle of, 22.
Caduceus, Melita, 228; combined
with ankh, Melita, 229.
Caecilius Metellus (L.), 208.
Caesar Augustus, 212.
Caesar, Julius, 34, 224.
Calacte, coinage (v.) 203, 221.
Calf's head, Messene, 47.
Camarina (city), 15-7, 20, 28, 30,
80, 125 ; coinage (i.) 43, 50, 51 ;
(ii.) 80, 81 ; (iii.) 125-7 ; (iv.) 167.
Camarina, nymph, 125, 126.
' Camp,' coinage, 143 f.
Campanians, at Aetna, 182 ; at En-
tella,i83; at Nacona,i84 ; coinage
(iv.) 182-5.
Caninius (C), 217.
Canting and allusive types, 48, 200,
207, 212.
Capital, eagle on, Acragas, 165 ;
Eryx, 51; Hipana,92; Motya,95.
Capricorn and triskeles, Panor-
mus, 210,
Caps, of Dioscuri, Tyndaris, 201 ;
of Hephaestus, Lipara, 181, 215 ;
of priest, Melita, 228.
Carthage. See Phoenicians.
Casmenae, 15.
Cast coins, 2.
Castor and Pollux. See Dioscuri.
Catana (Catina), 15, 19, 20, 35, 37,
98, 133 {cp. Aetna) ; coinage (i.)
43, 48, 49; (ii.) 74-7; (iii.) 132;
(v.) 205-7 ; gold attributed to,
127 ; types copied on Punic coins,
147.
Catanaean brothers. See Amphi-
nomus.
Cato, 208.
Celery, wild, Selinus, 52.
Centuripae, 13, 31 ; coinage (iv.)
178 ; (v.) 219.
Cephaloedium, 13, 137 ; coinage
(iii.) 142, 143 ; (v.) 216, 217.
Ceres. See Demeter.
Cestius (M.), 214.
Chair, curule, Melita, 229.
Chalcidian colonies in Sicily, 15.
Chariot, of Apollo and Artemis,
Selinus, 84 ; of Demeter, Henna,
91 ; of Hades, Henna, 214 ; of
Isis, Syracuse, 204.
racing, four horses, Acragas,
120 ; Camarina, 80, 125, 126 ;
Catana, 76 ; Eryx, 136 ; Gela, 50,
81, 82, 123 ; Himera, 67, 127 ;
Leontini, 48, 77 ; Panormus, 93 ;
Punic, 142, 146 ; Segesta, 134 ;
Thermae, 129 ; Syracuse, 44, 45,
54, 57, 61-5, 98, 100-4, 106,
158, 159, 161, 190, 191, 193, 195,
196.
racing, four horses, driven by
Acragas, Acragas, 120; by Athena,
Camarina, 80, 126 ; by male
winged figure, Syracuse, 63 ;
by Pelops, Himera, 67 ; by Per-
sephone, Syracuse, 64, 65 ; Se-
gesta, 135 ; by Victory, Gela, 82 ;
Selinus, 134 ; Syracuse, 158, 161,
190, 191, 196.
racing, two horses, Messana,
168 ; Syracuse, 154, 163, 187, 191,
193, 197, 205.
racing, two horses, driven by
Victory, Syracuse, 163, 187, 191,
197, 205.
racing, two mules. See Mule-
car.
Chimaera (?) at Himera, 128, 129.
Choerion, engraver, Catana, 132.
Chrysas, R., Assorus, 221.
Cilicia, Cimon's Arethusa imitated
in, 107.
SUBJECTS
241
Cimon, his decadrachms, 98 f. ;
tetradrachms, 105-7; gold, iii.
Circle, faint, surrounding head,
Syracuse, 45, 55, 56.
City-goddess, figure of, Entella,
221 ; Gela, 81 ; Himera, 40 ;
Messana, 69 ; Thermae, 218.
head of, Lilybaeum, 212 ;
Segesta, 213 ; Thermae, 218.
Civitates foederatae, 217.
Claudius Marcellus (C), 224.
Clodius Rufus (L.), 211.
Club, Messana, 168 ; Syracuse, 157,
193; with lion's skin, &c., Cepha-
loedium, 217.
Cock, Himera, 39, 66 ; Punic, 146^;
sacred to Asklepios, 84.
Colonies, Roman, in Sicily, 34, 35.
Column. See Capital.
Comitialis, Salassus, 211.
Commercial origin of types, 7.
Concord, head of, ' Crimisus,' 180 ;
Panormus, 208.
Corinthian coinage, 116; colonies
in Sicily, 15 ; divisional system,
42. Cp. Pegasi.
Corn. See Barley.
Cornelius (L.) Lentulus Crus, 224.
Cornucopiae, Aetna-Inessa, 220 ;
Panormus, 208.
Cossura, 14 ; coinage (v.) 230.
Crab, Acragas, 50, 65, 120-2, 164,
165 ; Eryx, 51 ; Himera, 66 ;
Leontini, 207 ; Motya, 94, 140 ;
Punic, 146 \
Crayfish, Catana, 77 ; Solus, 142.
Crescent, head on, Gaulos, 229.
Crimisus, R., altar of the, 180 ;
battle of, 24 ; omen of, 179 ; per-
sonified as hound, Segesta, 88;
as hunter, Segesta, 87, 135.
Cronium, near Himera, 22, 128.
Cronus, head of, Himera, 128.
Croton, 38 ; in alliance with
Zancle, 71.
Crus, Cornelius Lentulus, 224.
Crysas, 221.
Culleo, Q. Terentius, 212.
Cups with impressions of coins,
120"^.
Cyane, head of, Syracuse, 151.
Cyme, 15, 37 ; battle of, 18; weight-
standard, 41.
D.
Damareta, wife of Gelo, 53 f.
Damareteion, 5, 53 f ; Leontine
coins resembling, 77, 78.
Danklon, 37.
Date-palm. See Palm.
Decadrachms, of Acragas, 119 f. ; of
Syracuse, 54 f., 98 f.
Decurions issue coins, 215.
Dedications on coins, 192, 212.
Deities, named on coins, 10 ; coins
consecrated to, 10.
Delphi, selinon dedicated at, 52.
Demeter, Agathocles dedicates his
ships to, 157.
figure of, Henna, 91 (holding
torch over altar), 214 ; Leontini,
207 ; enthroned, Syracuse, 163 ;
in chariot. Henna, 91.
head or bust of, Henna, 178 ;
Leontini, 207 ; Siceliotes, 193 ;
Syracuse, 205 ; facing, Gela, 125 ;
Leontini, 207.
' Order ' as, Gela, 167.
Denarii issued in Sicily, 224 f.
Denominations, how expressed, 10,
46.
Design, 6.
Diadem, royal, 189, 191, 192, 195.
Dido, head of, Punic, 145.
Dies, 3-5.
Dinocrates, 27.
Dion, 23, 134 ; coinage, 117, 118.
Dionysiac types. See Bull, Grapes,
IVine-cup.
Dionysius I, 20-2 ; enslaves Ca-
tana, 133; recovers Cephaloe-
dium, 138, 143 ; his coinage and
242
INDEX I
finance, 112, 115, 116 ; mas-
sacres Motyaeans, 141 ; crushes
Naxos, 131 ; founds Taurome-
nium, 170 ; Tyndaris, 171.
Dionysius II, 23, 24.
Dionysus, cult at Aetna-Catana,
75, 77 ; at Naxos, 7.
figure of, Galaria, 91 ; Hybia
Megala, 220 ; Tauromenium, 200.
head of, Naxos, 39, 72-74 ;
131 ; Tauromenium, 200.
Dioscuri, one of, on horseback,
Tyndaris, 173.
two, on horseback, Tyndaris,
173, 201 ; standing, with or with-
out horses, 201 ; their caps, 201 ;
types referring to, 215.
Disc and horns of Isis, Syracuse,
204.
Dolphin, Lipara, 176, 181, 216 ;
Zancle, 37 ; as symbol, Acragas,
65 ; Thermae, 129.
with fish, Syracuse, 61.
with shell, Hipana,92 ; Motya,
95 ; Punic, 146^ ; Zancle, 70.
Dolphins, between spokes of
wheel, Syracuse, 113 ; surround-
ing head, Messana, 168 ; Punic,
142, 143, 146 ; Syracuse, 45, 55,
106 (in Arethusa's hair), 109 ;
Thermae, 129.
two opposed, Messana, 71, 130 ;
Syracuse, 61, 62, 71.
two, with star-fish, Syracuse,
114 ; with trident, Messana, 168 ;
Syracuse, 198.
Domitius Proculus (Cn.), 210.
Dorieus, 16.
Double-headed god. Seejaniform.
Double-headed goddess, Syracuse,
150.
Double-struck coins, 4, 80, 195.
Drachm, 41-3.
Drepanum, 30, 31.
Ducetius, 18.
Duumviri, 210 f.
E.
Eagle, Acragas, 49, 65, 122, 164, 165,
198, 199 ; Agyrium, 177-8 ; Eryx,
51 ; Motya, 94 ; Segesta, 213 ;
Syracuse, 151, 196.
on capital. See Capital.
on carcase, Haluntium, 222.
on hare, Acragas, 121 ; Punic^
146^
on pine-tree, Catana-Aetna,
75-
on thunderbolt, Mamertines,
169; Syracuse, 160, 191, 205;
Tyndaris, 202.
with serpent, Acragas, 120 ;
Gela, 123; Herbessus, 179; Hi-
pana, 92 ; Morgantina, 178 ;
Motya, 95.
Eagle's head, Acragas, 65.
Eagles, two, on hare, Acragas, 119,
122, 165, 198.
Earring on Syracusan coins, 99,
loi, 108, 115.
Ecnomus, 26.
Edges of coins, projections on, 3, 4,
114.
Egesta. See Segesta.
Egyptian cults, 204, 205; deities,
Mehta, 228; types, 191. See also
Ptolemy.
Egypto-Phoenician types, at Melita,
229 ; at Cossura, 230.
Electrum coins, 2, 117.
Elephant's skin, head wearing,
Syracuse, 156.
Elymians, 13, 36, 86-90.
Empedocles at Selinus, 84.
Entella, 13, 183; coinage (ii.) 91,
92 ; (iv.) 183 ; (v.) 221, 222.
Epicydes, 32.
Epipolae, 21, 33.
Equity, Catana, 206.
Eros, bust of, Tyndaris, 202 ; with
Aphrodite, Eryx, 136.
Eryx, 13, 20, 30, 31 ; coinage (i.) 43,
51; (ii.) 89, 90; (iii.) 136, 142;
SUBJECTS
243
(iv.) 173 ; (v.) 213 ; types copied
at Panormus, 93.
Euaenetus, engraver, at Camarina,
126; at Catana, 76, 77, 132; at
Syracuse, 62, 63, 98, 99, 102, 104,
107, 108, III, 115; his Heracles
and lion on a gem, 112, 113; im-
pressions of his coins in cups,
120^; his influence on other ar-
tists, 88, 99, 146, 155, 178, 196.
Euboea, colonies from, in Sicily, 15.
Euboea, Sicilian city, 17.
Euboic-Attic weight-standard, 41 f ,
Eukleidas, engraver, Syracuse, 108.
Eumenes, engraver, Syracuse,
60-2.
Euryalus, 33.
Euth . . ., engraver, Syracuse, 63,
64.
Ewer, sacrificial, denarius, 226.
Exakestidas, engraver, Camarina,
125.
Ex D. D., 215.
Exergue, 6.
Ex S. C, 225.
Eye, treatment of, 55-8.
Eyelashes represented, 59.
Fabric, 3.
Face, human, on carapace of crab,
Acragas, 122.
Facing types, disadvantages of,
106.
Fawn, hound killing, Piacus (?),
138.
Field, 6.
Figure, female, Petra, 220 ; holding
roll, Syracuse, 197; holding
torch, see Demeter ; veiled, with
city-crown, see City-goddess.
male, reading book. Thermae,
218.
Figures, three female. Thermae,
218.
Fillet with bell, Catana, 76.
Fire-god. See Hadmnus, Hephae-
stus.
Fish, Acragas, 121 (sea-perch) ;
Camarina, 126 ; Catana, 49, 77 ;
Catana and Leontini, 133 ; Gela,
82; Leontini, 79; Solus, 219;
with dolphin, Syracuse, 61.
Flan, 3.
Fortune, holding roll, Syracuse,
197. See also Tyche.
Fountain-nymph. See Are'husa,
Cyane.
G.
Galaria, coinage (ii.) 90, 91.
Galley. See Ship.
Gamori of Syracuse, 17, 43.
Gaulos, 14; coinage (v.) 229, 230;
coins formerly attributed to, 228.
Gela, 16-20, 25, 28, 36; coinage (i.)
43» 49> 50; (ii-) 81; (iii.) 123-5;
(iv.) 166, 167; (v.) 219; type
copied on Punic coins, 144, 147.
Gelas, R., personified, 10 ; as bull,
human-headed, 50, 81, 83 ; as
bull standing on barley-ear, 167 ;
head of, bearded, 125, 166 ; head
of, youthful, 82.
Gelo of Syracuse, 16, 17, 45, 46, 51,
53-7, 72 ; supposed portrait^ of,
191.
Gelo, son of Hiero II, 32 ; portrait,
191, 192.
Goal-column, 51, 76, 81, 106.
Goat, Thermae, 218 ; with torch
and barley-ears. Henna, 178;
youth riding on, Himera, 68,182.
Gold, as uncoined medium of ex-
change, 2 ; introduced into Sici-
lian coinage, no, 122, 124, 127.
Gorgon-head, Camarina, 127 ; in
centre of triskeles, Panormus,
209, 210 ; Roman denarius, 224 ;
Syracuse, 155 ; on aegis, Syra-
cuse, III.
R 2
244
INDEX I
Gozo. See Gaulos.
Grapes, Galaria, 91 ; Lipara, 181 ;
Naxos, 7, 39; Tauromenium,
199, 200.
Grasshopper, Acragas, 119.
Greaves, Himera, 68; with palm,
Camarina, 80.
Griffin, ' New' coinage, 176.
H.
Hades carrying off Persephone..
Henna, 214, 215.
Hadranius, R., head of, Hadranum,
176.
Hadranodorus, 32.
Hadranum, battle of, 24; coinage
(iv.) 176, 177 ; Timoleon at, 152.
Hadranus, 14 ; head of, Mamer-
tines, 169; Syracuse, 151 ; hound
of, Syracuse, 152.
Hair, treatment of, 58, 59, 72, 73,
99, loi, 102, 104.
Halaesa, 31 ; coinage (iv.) 175 ; (v.)
211.
Halicyae, 13, 19, 30, 31.
Haluntium, coinage (iii.) 139; (v.)
222.
Halycus, R., 22, 24.
Hamilcar Barca, 31.
Hamilcar, friend of Agathocles, 25.
Hamilcar, son of Gisco, 26.
Hamilcar, son of Hanno, defeated
at Himera, 17, 53.
Hannibal, son of Gisco, 20,.
Hanno, 33.
Harbour of Zancle, 37, 38.
Hare, Messene-Messana, 47, 69,
130. See also Eagle, Eagles.
Harpocrates and Isis, Catana, 205.
Head, its position and importance
on coins, 6, 46, 57, 99.
female, Abacaenum, 139 ; Na-
cona, 139 ; Syracuse, 151 ; on
crescent, Gaulos, 229 ; wearing
elephant's skin, Syracuse, 156;
wearing modius, Cossura, 230 ;
wearing myrtle crown, see Sicily ;
wearing Stephanos, Syracuse,
195 ; Tauromenium, 200 ; wear-
ing veil, Hybla Megala, 220;
Melita, 228, 229; Thermae, 218
(see also Helen) ; wearing veil
and mural crown, see City-god-
dess.
Head, male, bearded, Abacaenum,
91 ; Morgantina, 90.
male, helmeted, Haluntium,
222 ; Himera, 69 ; Syracuse, 151.
See also Ares, Hadranus.
male, young, Lipara, 176 ;
Morgantina, 179 ; Punic, 146^ ;
Syracuse, 154. See also Apollo y
Ares.
Healing-god of Himera, 39.
Health-goddess with serpent, Seli-
nus, 86.
Helen, head of, Tyndaris, 172, 201.
Helicon, R., as bull, Abacaenum,
220.
Helios (sun-god), head of, Aetna-
Inessa, 220; Entella, 221 ; Syra-
cuse, 205.
Helmet, Entella, 183; Himera, 68;
Mataurus (?), 184 ; as shield de-
vice, Camarina, 80.
Helmets of Dioscuri. Set Caps.
Helorus, battle of the, 16.
Hen, Himera, 40.
Henna, 13, 32 ; coinage (ii.) 91 ;
(iv.) 178; (v.) 213-5.
Hephaestus, cap of, Lipara, 181,
215 ; figure of, 181, 215 ; head of,
Lipara, 205, 215; Mytistratum,
179 ; tongs of, Lipara, 216.
Hera, head of, Syracuse, 195;
Tauromenium, 200, 201 ; Ther-
mae, 129.
Heraclea, Minoa, 137, 142.
Heracleotes from Cephaloedium,
137-
Heracles, figure of, fighting bull,
Selinus, 85; Solus, 95; resting
SUBJECTS
245
on club, Eryx, 213 ; seated, Ther-
mae, 129; wrestling with lion,
Syracuse, iii.
Heracles, head of, Agyrium, 177,
220 ; Camarina, 80, 125 ; Centuri-
pae,2i9; Cephaloedium,2i6,2i7;
Entella, 91 ; Gela, 125 ; Halun-
tium, 222 ; Heracleotes, 137 ;
Himera, 128 ; Longane, 92 ; Me-
lita, 228 ; Messana, 168 ; Petra,
220 ; Punic, 144 ; Selinus, 134 ;
Solus, 142; Syracuse, no, 157,
163, 197 ; Tauromenium, 200 ;
Thermae, 129, 218.
Tyrian, head of, Ras Melkart,
143.
Herakleidas, engraver, Catana, 132.
Herbessus, coinage (iv.) 178, 179.
Hermes, sacrificing, Tyndaris, 202 ;
seated, Panormus, 208.
Hermocrates, 19.
Hicetas of Leontini, 23, 24, 152.
Hicetas of Syracuse, 28 ; coinage,
159-61.
Hiero I, coinage, 57 f. ; reign, 17,
18 ; relations with Catana, 48, 74 ;
with Leontini, 77 ; with Naxos,
72 ; victory over Etruscans, 58.
Hiero H, 29-31 ; coinage, 186-92.
Hieronymus, 32 ; coinage, 194, 195.
Himera, 18-20, 37, 52 ; battle of, 17,
68, 80 ; coinage (i.) 5, 39, 40 ; (ii.)
65-9 (see Thermae) ; types copied
on Punic coins, 147.
Himera personified, 68, 218.
Himeras, R., 19, 33.
Himilco, 21, 170.
Hipana, coinage (ii.) 95.
Hipparis, R., 125 ; head, Camarina,
126.
Hippocamp (sea-horse), Hadra-
num, 176 ; Himera, 147 ; Mes-
sana, 130 ; Punic, 147 ; Syracuse,
174.
Hippocrates of Gela, 14, 50, 72.
Hippocrates, Punic agent, 32.
Hispanorum, 226.
hmtua, Punic inscr., 94.
Hoplite, lancer killing, Gela, 124.
Horse, Gela, 83 ; free, Acragas,
164 ; Aetna-Inessa, 182 ; Cama-
rina, 167 ; JEntella, 183 ; Gela,
166, 167; Mataurus (?), 184;
Mytistratum, 179 ; Nacona, 184 ;
Punic, 144-6 ; Syracuse, 112,
150; Tyndaris, 172; led by
horseman, Syracuse, 46 ; with
broken rein, ' New ' coinage,
175, 176 ; with palm-tree, Punic,
145-
forepart of, Gela, 124 ; Punic,
144.
head or bust of, Punic, 145 ;
Tyndaris, 173.
Horseman, Gela, 82, 83, 124 ; Leon-
tini, 79; Syracuse, 46, 157, PI.
XIII, II ; leading second horse,
Syracuse, 46 ; riding sideways,
Himera, 68 ; spearing hoplite,
Gela, 124.
Hound, Agyrium, 177 ; Eryx, 89,
136; Mamertines, 169; Panor-
mus, 93 ; Punic, 146^ ; Segesta,
87, 88, 135 ; kiUing fawn, Piacus,
138 ; standing on stag's head,
Segesta, 88.
Hunter, crowned by Victory, Agy-
rium, 220. See also Crimisus.
Hybla Megala, coinage (v.) 221.
Hydra, lolaus burning, Agyrium,
220.
Hypsas, R., figure of, Sehnus, 85.
I
laetia, coinage (v.) 221.
Inclined position of heads on Syra-
cusan coins, 108, 109.
Incuse impression, 5 ; square, Hi-
mera, 40; Selinus, 52; Syracuse,
44, 1 10-3; types, Zancle, 38.
Inessa. See Aetna.
Inscriptions on coins, 9.
246
INDEX I
lolaus, Agyrium, 220.
Hrnm, Phoenician name of Cos-
sura, 230.
Isis, figure of, Catana, 205 ; Syra-
cuse, 204.
figure of, in chariot, Syracuse,
204.
head of, Melita, 229 ; Syra-
cuse, 204.
headdress of, Syracuse, 204.
with Harpocrates, Catana, 205;
with Nephthys and Osiris, Mehta,
228. See also Sarapis.
Isis-Astarte, head of, Cossura, 230.
Italy, southern, relations with Sicily,
38; under Agathocles, 27; under
Dionysius I, 22.
J.
Janiform head, female, Syracuse,
150; of Janus, Panormus, 208;
Syracuse, 205; of Sarapis, Catana,
205.
Janus, head of, Panormus, 208;
Syracuse, 205.
Julius Caesar. See Caesar.
Jupiter, figure of, denarius, 224 ;
head of, victoriatus, 188. See also
Zeus.
K.
K, Punic initial of Kfra ?, 142.
Kartchadsat, 143.
Kfra, Punic for Solus, 141.
King, title assumed by Agathocles,
155; by Gelo II, 191 ; by Hiero
II, 187.
Knucklebone, Himera, 66.
Koppa, 44, 45, 55.
Kora. See Persephone.
Krtchdst, Kartchadsat, 143.
Laetorius, 210.
Laevinus, 33.
Lanassa, 27.
Lancer, mounted. See Horseman.
Larissa (Thessaly), imitates Ci-
mon's Arethusa, 107.
Laurel-leaf, Leontini, 78, 79.
Laurel - wreath, Cossura, 230 ;
Lilybaeum, 212 ; Melita, 228 ;
worn by Hiero II, 193.
Leaf. See Laurel, Selinon-plant.
Lent. Mar. Cos., 224.
Lentulus Crus, 224.
Leontini, 15, 19, 20, 23, 37, 72 ; coin-
age (i.) 43, 48; (ii.) 77-9; (iii.)
133 (with Catana), 134, 145; (v.)
207 ; types copied on Punic
coins, 147.
Leopard, Agyrium, 177 ; Centuri-
pae, 178.
Leukaspis, Syracuse, 109.
Libation-scene, Entella, 91 ; Eryx,
90 ; Himera, 67, 68 ; Motya, 95 ;
Selinus, 84 ; Solus, 95 ; Stiela,
92'. See also Sacrifice.
Liberty, types of. See Horse (free),
Zeus Eleutherios.
Life, sign of, 229.
Lighthouse, denarius, 225.
Lilybaeum, 15, 22, 29, 31, 141;
coinage (v.) 211-3, 228.
Lilybit., 213.
Lion, Leontini, 77-9, 207 ; Mes-
sana, 168 ; Syracuse, 55, 157 ;
devouring stag's head, Morgan-
tina, 179 ; Heracles strangling,
Syracuse, iii ; with palm-tree,
Punic, 145.
head of, Leontini, 48, 79 ; Mes-
sene, 47.
skin of, Cephaloedium, 217.
Lipara, 16, 19, 28, 30; allied with
Tyndaris, 181 ; coinage (iv.) 181,
182 ; (v.) 202, 203, 215, 216.
Litra, 42.
Lituus, 226.
Livia, head of, Panormus, 209.
Locri, Messana alHed with, 69.
Locust, Acragas, 119.
SUBJECTS
247
Longane, coinage (ii.) 92.
Lyre of Apollo, Catana, 133 ;
Hadranum, 176; Halaesa, 211 ;
Leontini, 79 ; Lilybaeum, 212,
213 ; Melita, 228, 229 ; Syracuse,
118; Tauromenium, 171, 199.
M.
M, Punic initial of Morgantina, 142.
Ma, 95.
Maenad with panther, Taurome-
nium, 200.
Mag. Pius Imp. Iter., 225.
Mai . . ., engraver, Himera, 127,
147.
Maiden-Goddess. See Persephone.
Malta. See Melita.
Mamertines, 28-30; coinage at
Messana (iv.) 168-70 ; (v.) 217 ;
types copied at Lipara, 182.
Marcellus besieges Syracuse, 32,
33-
Marcellus, C. Claudius, 224.
Marcius (G.), 216.
Mars sacrificing, Panormus, 208.
See also Ares.
Marsala. See Lilybaeum.
Mataurus, coins attributed to, 185.
Mechasbim, 143.
' Medallions.' See Decadrachms.
Megara, 15, 17, 92; coinage (iii.)
139-
Melita, 14 ; coinage (v.) 227-9.
Melkart, head of, Ras Melkart,
143-
Menae (Menaenum), coinage (v.)
221.
Meno of Egesta, 28.
Mercenaries in Sicily, 28 foil.
Messana (Zancle, Messene), 19, 25,
29, 3i» 37 ; coinage (i.) 47 ; (ii.)
69-71; (iii.) 130, 131; (iv.) 167,
168 (see also Mamertines) ; light-
house of, 225; relations with
Athens, 71 ; with Croton, 71 ;
with Locri, 69; with Rhegium,
46, 47, 217 ; with Syracuse, 71 ;
types copied by Phoenicians,
147.
Messene. See Messana.
Metals used for coins, 2.
Metapontum, 38.
Metellus, L. Caecilius, victor of
Panormus, 30, 31.
Metellus, L. Caecilius, governor of
Sicily, 208.
Mill-sail incuse square, 39, 40, 44.
Monograms, Aj/, 155; Att or Ha,
171 ; Ka/i or Mar, 184, 185 ; Uap,
208 ; Por, 2fy^ ; T/x or lo-, 194.
Monster, horned human head, hen's
feet, &c., Himera, 69.
Moon-goddess, Gaulos, 230,
Morgantina, coinage (ii.) 90; (iii.)
139. 142 ; (iv.) 178, 179.
Motya, 15; coinage (ii.) 94, 95;
(iii.) 140, 141.
Mtua, Punic for Motya, 140,
Mule-car, Messene-Messana, 47,
69, 70, 130.
Mummy of Osiris, Melita, 228.
Munatius (L.), 214.
Mun. Hennae, 2.1^.
Murex-shell, Panormus, 93; Punic,
146'.
Mussidius (L.), 215.
Mycenaean culture in Sicily, 13.
Mylae, 30.
Myr . . . , engraver, 121.
Myron, his Apollo at Acragas,
199.
Mytistratum, coinage (iv.) 179.
Myttones, 33.
N.
Nacona, coinage (iii.) 139 ; (iv.)
184 ; (v.) 222, 223.
Nasidius, Q., 226.
Naulochus, 34.
Naxos (Aegean), coins with wine-
cup, 39.
Naxos (Sicilian), 7, 15, 19, 37, 170 ;
248
INDEX I
coinage (i.) 39, 44; (ii.) 72-4;
(iii.) 131, 132.
Neetum, 217.
Nephthys, Isis and Osiris, Melita,
228.
Neptune, head of) denarius, 225.
See also Poseidon.
Neptuni, 226.
Nereis, Queen, 192.
* New Artist' of Syracuse, his
decadrachm, 103-5.
' New City of Carthage,' coinage, 143.
' New ' coinage, 175.
Nike. See Victory,
^nn, Phoenician name of Malta, 228.
O.
Oak-wreath, Dodonaean, Syra-
cuse, 163 ; worn by Apollo, 133.
Oanis, R. at Camarina, 125.
Obol, 41-3.
Obverse and reverse, 5, 228.
Octavian, 34. See Augustus.
Octobol, 42.
Odysseus, brooch of, 139.
Olive-leaves, Camarina, 127.
Olive-wreath, Camarina, 51 ; Ma-
taurus (?), 184 ; Mytistratum, 179.
Olympia, Anaxilas victorious at,
47 ; Himera and, 67, 128.
Omphalos, Mamertines, 170 ;
Tauromenium, 200.
Ophelas of Cyrenaica, 26.
Oppius (M.) Capito, 209.
Order personified, Gela, 166.
Ortygia, 15, 24, 33, 44, 45.
Osiris, mummy of, with Nephthys
and Isis, Melita, 228; with four
wings, 229.
Outlines, doubling of, on early
coins, 44, 130.
Owl, Lipara, 203 ; Syracuse, 156,
197 ; Tauromenium, 171 ; hold-
ing lizard, Camarina, 127; stand-
ing on amphora, Calacte, 221.
Ox, head of. Henna, 178. Cp. Bull.
P.
Palankaios, R., Agyrium, 139.
Palermo. See Panormus.
Palice, 18.
Palm (dwarf) and greaves, Cama-
rina, 80.
Palm-tree, Motya, 141 ; Punic, 145,
with lion or horse, ib:d.
Pan dancing before busts. Uncer-
tain, 223; seated, Messana, 130.
head of, Messana, 130.
Panoply in exergue of Syracusan
decadrachms, 98, 100.
Panormus, 15, 30, 31, 35, 209;
coinage (ii.) 92-4; (iii.) 147;
(iv.) 180 ; (v.) 207-10 ; gold coins
attributed to, 171.
Pantellaria. See Cossura.
Parme . . ., engraver, Syracuse,
109.
Paropus, coinage (v.) 221.
Patron, head of, Haluntium, 222.
* Paymasters ' coinage, 143 f.
Pedestal, bull on, Selinus, 84 ;
chariot-group on, Syracuse, 100.
' Pegasi,' of Corinth, 142, 173 ;
Leontini, 134; Syracuse, 117,
150, 154, 1585 187.
Pegasus, Entella, 183 ; Eryx, 142 ;
Nacona, 184; Punic, 146^ ; Tauro-
menium, 200. See also Pegasi.
Pellet distinguishing issue, Syra-
cuse, 108.
Pelops in chariot, Himera, 67, 128.
Pelorus, Cape, 37; personified,
Messana, 130 131, 168.
Pentalitron, 65.
Pentonkion, 217.
Persephone, coins consecrated to,
157 ; driving chariot, Segesta,
135 ; Syracuse, 64.
head of, Acragas, 210 ; Aetna-
Inessa, 182, 220; Centuripae,
178, 219; Entella, 183; Nacona,
184 ; Punic, 142, 144, 146 ; Syra-
cuse, 44, 64, 99, 102, 103, 104, 115,
SUBJECTS
249
154, 156, 158, 187, 193, 194, 196,
205 ; Tyndaris, 173.
Persephone, Pelorias assimilated
to, 168.
rape of, 178, 214, 215.
Petra, coinage (v.) 221.
Phalaris, 16.
Pheraemon, Messana, 131, 168.
Philip II of Macedon, influence of
his coinage, 154.
Philistis, portrait of, Syracuse, 190,
191 ; as Demeter, 193.
Phintias (city), 219.
Phintias, tyrant of Acragas, 28, 165,
166, 219.
Phoenicians, coinage in Sicily (ii.)
92-5; (iii.) 116, 140-8; in Spain,
»S:c., 188; colonies, 14, 36; in-
fluence in Maltese group and
Cossura, 227 f.; wars in Sicily,
17, 20 f., 30 f., 53 f. ; weakness in
art, 92 ; weight-standard, 188.
Phrygillus, engraver, Syracuse, 64,
65, 113-
Phthia, head of, Syracuse, 162.
Piacus, coinage, 138.
Pindaric Odes to Psaumis, 81, 125.
Pine-trees of Aetna, 75.
Pistrix. See Sea-monster.
Plated decadrachm of Syracuse, 115.
Plough, Leontini, 207 ; bird perched
on, Centuripae, 219; Leontini,
207 ; drawn by winged snakes,
Henna, 214.
Pompeius (Cn.) the Great, head of,
226.
Pompeius (Cn.) the Younger, head
of, 226.
Pompeius, Sextus, 34, 206, 225,
226; head of, 226.
Por, monogram, 209.
Porcius (M.) Cato, 208.
Portraiture, 186, 189, 191, 193, 195.
Poseidon, figure of, seated, Panor-
mus, 93; wielding thunderbolt,
Zancle, 70.
Poseidon, head of, Lipara, 216 ; Mes-
sana, 168 ; Nacona, 223 ; Solus,
219; Syracuse, 193, 198. See
also Neptune.
Praef. Clas. et Orae Marit, ; ex S. C,
225.
Priest's cap, Melita, 228.
Prize arms. See Panoply.
vases, Camarina, 126.
Proculus. See Domitius.
Prokles, engraver, Naxos, 131 ;
Catana, 132.
Prow. See Ship.
Pruning-hook, denarius, 224.
Psaumis of Camarina, 8t, 125.
Ptolemy I, influence of coinage of,
156, 160, 162.
Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, 28, 29 ;
coinage in Sicily, 161-3.
Pythion of Lilybaeum, 212.
Ram, Panormus, 208 ; sacrificed,
Gela, 167, 219; Syracuse, 109,
no.
Ram's head, Melita, 228.
Ram's horns, head with. See Zeus
Amnion.
Ras Melkart, coinage (iii.) 142, 143.
Rein, broken, motif of Euaenetus,
62, 63.
Religious significance of types, 7.
Re-struck coins, 173, 174 f.
Reverse, 5.
Rhegium, 19, 21, 38, 41, 46, 47, 69,
217.
Rhodian colonies in Sicily, 16.
Rings, circulation of, 37.
River-god, represented by bull,
Selinus, 84, 85; by bull with
human head, Entella, 91 ; Se-
linus, 86; Stiela, 92 (see also
Bull}\ by hound, see Crtmisus;
by human figure, Acragas, 120 ;
Leontini, 207 ; Segesta (see Cri-
misus) ; Selinus, 134 ; Solus, 95 ;
250
INDEX I
Stiela, 92 ^ ; by human head,
Piacus, 138 ; Punic, 146 ^ ; Syra-
cuse, III, 151 ; Uncertain, 223.
See also Acragas, Amenanus,
Assinus, Crimisus, Gelas^ Hy-
psas, Mataurus, Selinus.
^rk, Punic for Eryx, 142.
Romans, in Sicily, 30-3 ; influence
of their coinage, 188, 192, 203,
206 ; issue coins in Sicily, 223-6 ;
relations with Mamertines, 169.
Rose, Acragas, 65.
Rsmlkrf, Ras Melkart, 142.
Rufus, L. Clodius, 211.
Rufus, Sextus, 211.
Sacrifice, scene of, Gela, 167, 219 ;
Segesta, 135; Selinus, 134;
Thermae, 218 ; Tyndaris, 202.
See also Libation- scene.
Salassus Comitialis, 211.
Samians in Zancle, 46, 47.
Sarapis, head of, Menae, 221 ;
Syracuse, 204; conjoined with
head of Isis, Catana, 205 ; jani-
form, ibid.
Sardinians, coin struck for, 201.
Sardus, 201.
Saviours, Dioscuri as, 173. See also
Scallop-shell, Motya, 95; Syra-
cuse, 61 ; Zancle, 38 ; with dol-
phin, Hipana, 92; Motya, 95;
Punic, 146^; Zancle, 70.
Scipio restores statues to Thermae,
218 ; to Tyndaris, 202.
Scylla, Acragas, 121, 122; dena-
rius, 225, 226 ; Syracuse, 64.
Sea-god. See Poseidon.
Sea-monster (pistrix), Catana, 49,
58 ; Syracuse, 58.
Sea-star. See Star-Jish.
Segesta (city), 13, 19, 20, 31, 86-9,
213 ; coinage (ii.) 86-90 ; (iii.)
135; (iv.)i74; (v.) 213; relations
with Athens, 88 ; with Erj^x, 90 ;
types imitated at Motya, 94 ; at
Panormus, 93.
Segesta (nymph), head of, 87, 89.
Selinon-plant, Selinus, 51, 52, 83-5 ;
Solus, 95.
Selinus (city), 15, 19, 20, 31, 84, 88 ;
coinage (i.) 5, 43, 51, 52 ; (ii.) 83-
6; (iii.) 134; types imitated at
Solus, 95.
Selinus, R., 84.
Sella curulis, Melita, 229.
Sempronius. See Atratinus.
Senate, coins issued by order of,
225.
Sepia (squid), Syracuse,46, 113, 118.
Serpent, beside head of Apollo or
Asklepios, Acragas, 198 ; beside
head of Athena, Morgantina, 179 ;
between feet of lion, ibid. ; caress-
ed by female figure, Selinus, 86 ;
encircling altar, Selinus, 85 ; en-
circling omphalos, Taurome-
nium, 200 ; encircling staff",
Acragas, 210; Syracuse, 205;
encircling tripod, Lilybaeum,
212. See also Eagle.
Serpents, winged, drawing plough,
Henna, 214.
Shell-fish. See Murex, Scallop-
shell.
Shield, with helmet device, Cama-
rina, 80.
Ship, denarius, 226 ; prow of, Li-
para, 216 ; stern of, Lipara, 203.
Sicans, 13, 36.
Siceliotes, coinage of (v.) 193 ;
federation of, 24, 26, 29, 30.
Sicels, 13, 18, 19, 21, 36.
Sicily, indicated by female head,
' Alliance,' 175 ; Hadranum, 176 ;
Morgantina, 178. See also Con-
cord, Triskeles.
Sickle-shaped harbour of Zancle,
37-
SUBJECTS
251
Siculo- Punic coinage. See Phoe-
nicians.
Silanos, 121, 122.
Silenus, figure of, bathing, Himera,
67 ; drinking, Naxos, 73, 74, 131,
132 ; riding on ass, Nacona, 133 ;
with river-bull, Catana, 49.
head of, Aetna, 74 ; Catana,
74,133.
Silera, cpinage (iv.) 179-80.
Slave-revolts in Sicily, 34.
Solus, 15; coinage (ii.) 95; (iii.)
141, 142 ; (v.) 219.
Sopatros, 220.
Sosion, engraver, Syracuse, 61.
Sosipolis, head of, Gela, 81, 124.
Sow with pig, Abacaenum, 139.
Spanish troops in Sicily, 226.
Spartan relations with Sicily, 22, 25.
Spearman, mounted. See Horse-
man.
Spits of metal, circulation of, 37.
Spokes of wheel (?), three, Myti-
stratum, 179.
Square incuse, 5.
Squid. See Sepia.
Staft" entwined by serpent, Acra-
gas, 210 ; Syracuse, 205.
Stag's head, hound on, Segesta, 88.
Standards. See Weight-standards.
Star, Gaulos, 230; Mataurus(?), 184;
Syracuse, 113, 158, 159; Tyn-
daris, 172, 201 ; surmounting cap,
Tyndaris, 201 ; two stars, Tyn-
daris, 172.
Star-fish, Syracuse, 114, 174.
Stesichorus, 66, 185 ; figure of,
Thermae, 218.
Stiela, coinage (ii.) 92.
Straton, 121.
Struck coins, 3.
Sun-god. See Apollo, Helios.
Swan, Camarina, 51, 127; Punic,
146 ^
Swastika, Eryx, 136; Panormus,
93; Punic, 146 ^
Symbols, 6.
Syracuse, 15-35 ; coinage (i.) 5, 43-
6; (ii.) 53-65; (iii.) 97-ii9 ; (iv.)
149-64 ; (v.) 186-98, 203-5 ; coins
re-struck by other cities, 174, 184 ;
types copied by Mamertines, 169;
on Punic coins, 94, 95, 140-7.
Tablet carried by Victor}'^, 62, 76,
127.
Tauromenium, 24, 29, 35, 170 ;
coinage (iv.) 170, 171 ; (v.) 199.
Terentius Culleo (Q.), 212.
Terillus, 17.
Terminal statue, 88.
Tetradrachm, 41-3.
Theoxena, wife of Agathocles, 156.
Thera (?), coinage (v.) 223.
Thermae, 30, 35, 129 ; coinage (iii.)
129 ; (v.) 217, 218 ; types copied
on Punic coins, 147.
Thero of Acragas, 17, 53, 65, 66.
Thrasybulus, 18.
Thrasydaeus, son of Thero, 66.
Three-legged symbol. See Tris-
keles.
Thunderbolt, Acragas, 198 ; Aetna-
Catana, 74, 75 ; Aetna-Inessa,
183; Agyrium, 177; 'Alliance,'
175 ; Catana, 74, 75 ; Centuripae,
PI. XIV. 21; Panormus, 210;
Syracuse, 151, 158, 160, 194, 196 ;
Tyndaris, 202 ; wielded by Posei-
don, Zancle, 70. See also Eagle.
Thyrsus, Naxos, 74.
Timoleon, 23-5, 151, 152, 182, 183 ;
effect on coinage, 149 f, 174;
electrum attributed to, 118.
Tin-plated (?) decadrachms of Syra-
cuse, 115.
Tintetradrachms of Dionysius, 116.
Tongs, Lipara, 216.
Torch, Messana, 168 ; Syracuse,
157; and ears of barley, 'AUi-
252
INDEX I
ance,' 175 ; and goat, Henna, 178;
in oak- wreath, Syracuse, 163.
Torches, two, crossed, Syracuse,
205.
Trident, Lipara, 182 ; Nacona, 223 ;
Roman denarius, 225 ; Syracuse,
112, 193; with dolphins, Mes-
sana, 168; Syracuse, 198.
Trinacrus, figure of, denarius, 225,
226.
Tripod, Acragas, 65 ; Croton, 71 ;
Halaesa, 211 ; Leontini, 79, 134 ;
Lilybaeum, 212, 228 ; Melita, 228,
229; Morgantina, 179; Roman
aureus, 226; Syracuse, 118;
Tauromenium, 199, 200 ; Zancle,
71 ; encircled by serpent, Lily-
baeum, 212.
Triptolemus, Henna, 214.
Triquetra. See Triskeles.
Triskeles, Syracuse, 152-8; Gor-
gon's head in centre of, Panor-
mus, 208-10 ; Roman denarius,
224; Syracuse, 155; held by
figure. See Trinacrus.
Trophy, Syracuse, 157 ; naval, Ro-
man denarius, 225 ; Victory
crowning, victoriatus, 188, 189 ;
Victory erecting, Syracuse, 156.
Tunny-fish, Solus, 219.
Tyche (ToiTrjp, 40, See also Fortune.
Tyndaris (city), 35, 171 ; allied with
Lipara, i8t ; coinage (iv.) 172,
173 ; (v.) 201, 202, 215.
Tyndaris (Helen), head of, 172,
Types of coins, 6.
Tyrrhenians, coinage (iv.) 184.
Veiled female head. See City-
goddess, Demeter, Philistis.
Venus, head of, denarius, 224.
See also Aphrodite.
Verres in Sicily, 34, 213, 214.
Victoriatus, Roman, 188, 189.
Victory, figure of, Camarina, 51,
126; Catana, 49; Himera, 128;
above chariot, see Chariot {rac-
ing) ; carryingaphlaston, Himera,
68; carrying tablet, Himera, 127 ;
Syracuse, 62, 76; carrying tro-
phy, Syracuse, 162, 163, 197 ;
crowning goddess, Cossura, 230 ;
crowning trophy, victoriatus,
188, 189; driving chariot, Syra-
cuse, 161, 163, 187, 191, 196, 197,
205 ; erecting trophy, Syracuse,
156 ; seated, Morgantina, 139.
Victory, head of, Syracuse, 44, 55,
108.
Vine-branch sceptre, Aetna, 75.
Vine-twig with grapes, Naxos, 39.
W.
Warrior, Aetna-Inessa, 220 ;
Gaulos, 230 ; Mamertines, PI.
XIV. 19 ; Silera, 179 ; Solus, 219.
Cp. Leukaspis, Pheraemon.
Waves, conventionally represent-
ed, 126.
Weight-standards, 2, 41, 158, 187-9.
Wheel, Gela, 83 ; Syracuse, 46, 63,
III, 113. See also Spokes.
Wine-god. See Dionysus.
Winged figure, charioteer, Syra-
cuse, 63 ; Egypto-Phoenician
deity, Melita, 228, 229. See also
Athena, Victory.
Wreath, above chariot, Gela, 82 ;
Selinus, 134 ; above horse, Gela,
83 ; head in, Motya, 95 ; of oak-
leaves, Syracuse, 163. See also
Laurel-wreath, Olive-wreath.
Z.
'^, Phoenician inscription, Cossura,
230.
Zacynthus, Dion's coinage at, 118,
119.
Zancle, 14, 15, 37 ; coinage (i.) 5,
37-9, 46 ; (ii.) 70, 71 ; types imi-
tated at Hipana and Motya, 95.
See Messana.
SUBJECTS
253
Zeus, figure of, Catana- Aetna, 75 ;
Galaria, 91; Syracuse, 196; Tyn-
daris, 202.
head of, bearded, Abacaenum,
91 ; Acragas, 164, 198 ; Aetna-
Inessa, 183 ; Agyrium, 177, 220 ;
' Alliance,' 175 ; Centuripae, 219 ;
Eryx, 173; Panormus, 208; Syra-
cuse, 149-51, 160, 196, 205; Tyn-
daris, 201, 202. See also Jupiter.
head of, bearded, with ram's
horns, Catana, 206.
Zeus, head of, young, Mamertines,
169, 170 ; Syracuse, 152, 160.
Ammon, 206.
Eleutherios (of Freedom),
149-51, 160, 173, 175, 177, 183.
Hellanios, 152, 160, 169, 170.
Ourios, 196.
Saviour, 91, 199.
, symbols of. See Eagle,
Thunderbolt.
Ziz, Punic inscription, 94, 140,
146-8.
INDEX II
GREEK
*:^* As the words in this index
they are printed without accents or
breathing is only inserted when it
the coin.
A^aKaiviVy 220.
A^aKai-vivoVj 91,
AyaOoKXeios, 157.
AyadoKXeos, 156.
AyadoKXfos ^aaiXfos, 158.
AyaOypvos, 172.
Ayv, 177.
Ayvpivaicov, 177.
AdpaviTdVj 176.
Adpavov, 169.
aOXo, 100, 105.
AiTPai, 74.
AiTvaiov, 75.
AiTvaKov, 182.
AKpa, 50.
AKpayavTivoiv, 164.
AKpayavTos , 50, 1 65.
A/cpayar, I20, 164.
represent inscriptions on the coins,
the smooth breathing, and the rough
is represented by an actual sign on
AXaicras Apx-, 21 1.
AXai(riva>v, 175.
AX/cof, 179.
AN, monogram, 155.
AIT, monogram, 171.
AttoXXcov, 133, 176.
ArroXXcovof, 200.
Apedoaa, 106.
Apeoy, 169, 217.
ApxayfTac, 170, 1 75, 199.
Apx{(t>vid(ias)y AXotaas, 211.
AtrxXaTToy, 2IO,
AaaLvoSf 132.
Aaa>P€vs, 216.
ArpaTiiov, 212, 222.
Bo, 191.
BaaiXcos AyaBoKXfos, J 58.
254
INDEX II
BamXeoy UpcovoSy 187, 189.
Baa-iXeos l€pa}vvfxov, 194.
BacriXeos' <E>ivrta, 166.
BacriXecos Ilvppov, 163.
Baa-LXia-aas ^iXioriSoy, 190.
TaXa, 91.
TaXapivoVy 9I.
FavXiTCdUy 230.
r^Xas, 10, 50, 166.
TfXaiov, 9.
TeXcoicoVy 167, 219.
TeXwioy, 192, I98.
r. MapKios Ae. T. Aaravevs Avo
216.
Aa, 71.
Aapar, Aaparrjp, 178,
AavKXaiov, 70.
Aajz/cXf, 37.
Aios- EXeu^fptou, 160.
Aios EXXnuiov, 160.
Aios Meo", 167.
Aios 2(OTi]pos, 199.
Auo Av8p, 216.
E for f, r,, u, 9.
E-yeo-raioj/, 89.
Eyeoraio)!/, 89, 135, 213.
Ek Ke0aXotStou, I37.
EXeu^epiof, Zeuy, 149, 175, 177, 183.
EXevOepLOVy Aios, 160.
EXXaviov, Aios", 160.
Ej/, 178.
'Evpaiovy 91.
Efvaiuji', 178.
EvreX, 92.
EvreXXaf, 183.
Ei/reXXtfcoi;, 221.
E^a/ceoTiSa?, I26.
Etti Ikctu, 160.
Em ^coirarpov, 220.
Ep^rjaaivcovy 178.
Epi;fctyo, 90.
Epu/ctroi', 51, 136.
EpvKivcoVj 173, 213.
Evatvero, 62.
Ev^...,63.
EuxXeiSa, 108.
Eu/xfj'ov, 62.
Evfxrjvov, 61.
Evvo/jiia, 166.
Z6i;s EXeu^epioy, I49, 175, 177, 183.
H, first appearance of, 9.
HpaicXeiSay, 132.
Hpa/cXftcoraf 6k KecjiaXoidiov, 137.
Qeppirau, 129, 2l8.
Qeppirau Ipepnidiv, 2l8.
QrjpaKov, 223.
laKtj/, 138.
laroi/, 40.
If, 193-
lepa'i-oy, 187, 189, I92, 193.
lepcovvfiov, jSacriXfOf, 194.
iKfra, eTTi, 160.
'l/ue, 40.
Ipfpa, 66.
I/if pa, 10, 68, 128.
'lp.€pniop, 66.
Ipepaiov, 68.
IpepaioiJ'j 128, 218.
iTrai/nrai', 92.
Imrapis, 1 26.
IpvKa^i^, 90.
IpvKci^u^, 136.
12, monogram, 194.
Ka, 127.
Kan'ov, 175'
KAM, monogram, 184.
Kafxapiun, 126.
KapapivaioVf 5I, 83.
Ka/XTTavcoj/, 183, 184.
Karavatoi', 49, 76.
Karai/ator, 76.
KaraJ/aicoj/, 133.
Karnve, ID, 74.
Kei'ToptTrtva)!', 178.
GREEK
255
Kf0a, 217.
K€(f)a\oi8iov, 137, 216.
Ki/i, 100.
KifjLapa, 128.
Kifiia-a, 180.
Kifxcop, 106.
Kopas, 10, 157.
KpifjLiaa, 180.
Kpoj/cs-, 128.
Aeo//, 133.
AeotTii/oi/, 48, 78, 134, 145.
AevKoaKis, 109.
At, 203.
AiXv^auraLs, 2T2.
AiXvlBauTnv, 212.
AiTT, 203.
Aiirapaiov, 181, 182, 203.
AinapaKov, 181, 2l6.
Ao, 69.
Aoyyavaiov, 92.
Mat . . . , 127.
MaufpTLVOv/JL, 170.
Ma^fprtvcoy, 168, 217.
MapKtoff, r., 216.
MAT, monogram, 185.
MfXiraicov , 228.
Mea, Aio9, 167.
Me(ro"ni/a, 70.
MecraavLov, 47.
Mco-o-awwf, 168.
Mea-a-fvioVi 47.
MopyafTti/o, 90.
Mopyaj/rti/coi/, I78.
MoTvaiov, 94.
Mu, 179.
MuTt, 179.
N, 223.
Na, 223.
"SaKOiucKov, 184.
No/CQ)J^7;y, 184.
TSiaiiov, 39, 74.
Na|i<ui/, 132.
NtKttj 19, 68.
-vij/or. See A^aKai-VLvov.
O for 0, o), ou, 9.
Ofxnvoia, 180, 208.
n, 217.
IIA, monogram, 171.
UaXayKaios, 139.
nay, 130.
UavopfjLLTav, 207-9.
Ilarop/xtriAcoJ', 93.
Uavoppo, 93.
DAP, monogram, 208.
llapfxe . . ., 109.
neXo\//', 67.
IleXcopiaf, 131, 168.
mv, 10, 65.
[n]ia/aj/, 138.
Uoa-eidav, 168.
npoKXr/f, 131.
TIvSicov, 212.
Ilup/jou, jSao-tXecof, 1 63.
(fpo, 71.
Sa-yeo-ra^tS, 86.
2ap8a)t, 200, 201.
SeyearaCia, 89, 1 35.
Seyfo-n.Ci^, 86, 135.
Se-yeora^t^f/ut, 86.
Seyfo-raioi/, 90.
Sf-yecrraicoi/, 135, 213.
2fXi, 52.
"SeXivoes, 86.
SeXtvoi/rtoj/, 84, 86, 95.
SeXtj/of, 84, 86.
SiKeXta, 175.
StKeXtcoTOJ/, 193.
SiXafOff, 121, 122.
^ikepaicov, I79.
SoXoiTtyot', 95, 142.
2o\ovTiV(t)V, 219.
SocriTroXty, 81.
2oT(p, 40, 91.
'2oTT]p, 68.
Srparo)!^, 121.
'2vppaxiK0Vj 10, 174.
Supa, 44.
2vpaKO(rioi, 197.
256
INDEX II
2vpaKO(Tioi TeXcavos, I92, I98.
SupaKoaiot XII, 192.
2vpaKO(Tioi:' XIII, 197.
^vpaKoaiov, 55, 1 17, 134, 150.
^vpaKoai(ov, 150, I54, 157, 160, 193,197.
2vpaqo(nov, 44.
ScoTrarpou, em, 220.
2a)(nos, 210.
2(C(TL(i}v, 61.
ScoreipH, 157, 158, 166.
2a)rJ7pe$-, 173.
ScoTT^poy, Aios, 199.
TavpopepiraVf 171.
TM, monogram, 194.
TwSaptSof, 173.
Tui'Sapiy, 172.
Tvv8apiTaUy 1 73, 1 82.
Ti'ppj;, 184.
Y/x = Mv, 179.
'Yx|.a9, 85.
^epaificiv 131.
$t, 165.
$i\to-TiSo9, l3a(ri\i(raasy T90
^tj^rta, ^aaikecs, 1 66
^pu, 64.
Opi;yiXA, 64.
Xotpttor, 132.
Q, first appearance of, 9.
. . . coj/af, 223.
THE END
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