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Onkia
| Issuer | Himera (Sicily) |
|---|---|
| Year | 425 BC - 409 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain concave field enclosed within a raised circular border, at the centre of which sits a single raised globular pellet serving as the mark of value, denoting one onkia, the twelfth part of a litra. The reverse is otherwise uninscribed and devoid of additional decoration. |
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| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Himera, Sicily, Italy |
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| Additional information |
Himera's bronze coinage of this period was struck in the decades following the city's dramatic role in the 480 BC battle against Carthage — a victory celebrated across the Greek world. The onkia, worth one-twelfth of a litra, represents Himera's attempt to sustain a functioning small-denomination economy in bronze, a relatively new monetary technology for Sicilian Greek cities at the time.
The city never struck another coin after 409 BC. That year, Hannibal Mago's Carthaginian forces razed Himera entirely, massacring a large portion of its population in reprisal for the 480 defeat — a generational vendetta fulfilled in fire.