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12 Litrai - Fifth Democracy
| Issuer | Syracuse |
|---|---|
| Year | 214 BC - 212 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 10.13 g |
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| Obverse description | Helmeted head of Athena facing left, rendered in fine high relief characteristic of late Syracusan coinage. The goddess wears a Corinthian helmet pushed back on the head, adorned with a prominent crest and a small figure decorating the bowl. Flowing locks of hair emerge beneath the helmet, falling in elegant waves across the neck and cheek. The facial features are finely modelled in the Hellenistic style, with a pronounced profile and naturalistic detail. No legend appears in the field. |
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| Reverse description | Artemis standing left in full figure, depicted in the act of drawing an arrow from a quiver while holding a bow; a hound springs leftward at her side. The legend ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ appears to the right of the central figure in Greek characters, while the abbreviated inscription ΥΑΣ is disposed to the left. The composition is typical of late Syracusan civic coinage, combining divine imagery with civic legend in a well-balanced field. |
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| Additional information |
Syracuse's Fifth Democracy was a desperate experiment in self-governance squeezed between the death of Hieronymus in 214 BC and the city's fall to Marcellus in 212 BC — a window of barely two years during which the city lurched between pro-Carthaginian and pro-Roman factions while Roman legions tightened their siege. Coinage from this period was struck under genuine military emergency, with Archimedes' defensive engines buying time but not victory.
The issue's short production window of roughly twenty-four months makes die-matched survivors relatively traceable across the major collections, and the SNG ANS, BMC, and McClean references each preserve specimens that show measurable die progression.