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1023
Sicily, Syracuse. Timoleon and the Third Democracy. Æ Hemidrachm (15.23 g), 344-317 BC. Timoleontic
Symmachy coinage, ca. 344-339/8 BC. [
Z
]
EUS
ELE
-
UQ
-
ERIOS
, laureate head of Zeus Eleutherios right.
Rev.
SURAK
-
OSIWN
, thunderbolt; to right, barley grain. (CNS 72; SNG ANS 477-88). Beautiful glossy
greenish-brown patina. Choice very fine.
$ 500
ex NFA MBS (18 October 1990), lot 103.
1024
Sicily, Syracuse. Agathokles. Silver Tetradrachm (17.17 g), 317-289 BC. Ca. 310/08-306/5 BC.
KORAS
,
wreathed head of Kore right, wearing single-pendant earring and necklace. Rev.
AGAQOKLEOS
in exergue,
Nike standing right, and erecting trophy; to left, AN or AV monogram; to right, triskeles. (Ierardi 95 (O19/
R61); Gulbenkian 336 (same dies); SNG ANS 664; SNG Lloyd 1488). Of splendid style and most attractive.
Light cabinet tone. Extremely fine.
$ 3,500
The image of Nike erecting a trophy on the reverse of this handsome tetradrachm is thought to advertise the successes that Agathokles
had enjoyed in defending Syracuse against a massive Carthaginian blockade (actually the work of his older brother, Antander) and
in carrying the war against Carthage to Punic Libya in 310-307 BC. The type, however, gives no indication that when things began
to sour in Libya, Agathokles quietly abandoned his troops and sailed home. Despite this unspoken truth, the iconography quickly
seized the attention of contemporary Hellenistic rulers much further to the east, where the image of Nike erecting a trophy provided
the model for a similar scene found on tetradrachms of Seleukos I Nikator (312-281 BC), probably struck shortly after the decisive
Battle of Ipsos in 301 BC. As these coins were struck primarily in Susa, the influence of Agathokles seems to have spread quite far
indeed.
1025
Sicily, Syracuse. Agathokles. Silver Tetradrachm (17.13 g), 317-289 BC. Ca. 310/08-306/5 BC.
KORAS
,
wreathed head of Kore right, wearing single-pendant earring and necklace. Rev.
AGAQOKLEOS
, Nike
standing right, and erecting trophy; to left, triskeles. (Ierardi 178c (O46/R118; this coin); SNG Munich 1263
(same dies)) Toned. Very fine.
$ 1,500
ex Prowe Collection, pt. III (Egger 46, 11 May 1914), lot 91.