16 Litrai - Philistis

Philistis was the wife of Hieron II, who ruled Syracuse as king from around 270 BC until the Roman sack of the city in 212 BC — one of the longest reigns in Sicilian history. Her appearance on a silver issue of this denomination is unusual for the period; Syracusan coinage had long centered on civic and divine imagery, and the decision to place a queen consort so prominently reflects Hieron's deliberate cultivation of a Hellenistic dynastic model, borrowing the royal vocabulary of the Ptolemies and Seleucids.

The 212 BC terminus is absolute — the Roman siege under Marcellus ended the mint's output entirely.