Sicily

[G. L. Castelli, Siciliae nummi veteres. Palermo, 1781.
A. Salinas, Le monete delle antiche città di Sicilia. Palermo, 1871.
Landolina-Paternò, Ricerche numm. sull’ antica Sicilia. Palermo, 1872.
British Museum Catalogue, Coins of Sicily (Poole, Head, and Gardner), 1876.
B. V. Head, Coinage of Syracuse, 1874.
P. Gardner, Sicilian Studies (Num. Chron.), 1876.
R. Weil, Die Künstlerinschriften der sicilischen Münzen (Winckelmannsfest-Progr. 44), 1884.
A. J. Evans, Syracusan Medallions and their Engravers, 1892.
A. J. Evans, Contributions to Sicilian Numismatics (Num. Chron.), 1894, 1896.
Th. Reinach, Sur la valeur relative des métaux monétaires dans la Sicile greque (L'Histoire par les monnaies), 1902.
A. Holm, Geschichte des sicilischen Münzwesens (in vol. iii. of his Geschichte Alterthum, 1870-1902).
Du Chastel de la Howardries, Syracuse, ses monnaies d'argent, 1898.
G. Tropea, Numismatica Siciliota del Mus, Mandralisca in Cefalù, 1901.
G. F. Hill, Coins of Ancient Sicily, 1903.
Bahrfeldt, Die römisch-sicilischen Münzen (Rev. Suisse), 1904.]

Period I. Before B.C. 480. First in this period comes the coinage of the Chalcidian colonies, Naxus, Zancle, and Himera. These early coins, some of which may belong to the end of the seventh century, follow the Aeginetic (?) standard, although as a rule the drachms do not exceed 90, nor the obols 15 grs. It is possible that this standard was imported, together with the worship of Dionysos, from the island of Naxos, whence, as the name given to the earliest Sicilian settlement implies, a preponderating element of the first body of colonists must have been drawn. Possibly, however, the pieces of 90 grs. are merely Euboïc-Attic octobols (see Holm, pp. 560 ff.).

Somewhat later, probably about the middle of the sixth century, begins the coinage of the Dorian colonies, Syracuse, Gela, Agrigentum, &c. The standard here is certainly not (with one possible exception) the Aeginetic but the Euboïc-Attic, which was soon universally adopted throughout the island, even by those Chalcidian colonies which had begun to coin on the supposed Aeginetic standard.

The definite change to the Attic standard took place at Naxus some time after B.C. 498, at Zancle between B.C. 493 and 480, and at Himera in B.C. 482.

The original Sikel and Sicanian population of Sicily possessed, how- ever, a standard of their own, based on the pound or litra of bronze. To this weight of bronze corresponded a silver litra of 13.5 grs. Even during the earliest period of the Aeginetic (?) standard Zancle struck silver coins of this weight, and as it happened to be exactly 1/5 of the Attic drachm, it was readily adopted by those Greek cities which used the Euboïc-Attic standard, as an additional denomination slightly heavier than their own obol, from which they took care to distinguish it by giving it a different type, or by a mark of value. Thus at Syracuse the litra was marked with a sepia and the obol with a wheel.

The coins struck in Sicily during this first period exhibit all the characteristic peculiarities of archaic art, but they are far more advanced, both in style and execution, than the contemporary coins either of Magna Graecia or of Greece proper.

Period II. B.C. 480-413. The great victory of the Greeks over the Carthaginians at Himera in B.C. 480 was the prelude to a long interval

Towards the end of this period (not before 440) a new feature appears on the Sicilian coins, in the shape of the signatures of the artists. The following names of Sicilian engravers occur on coins of this period: at Syracuse, Eumenes or Eumenos, Sosion, Euainetos, Euth[ymos?], Phrygillos, and Euarchidas; and at Catana, Euainetos.

Even before the age of Gelon and Hieron, whose victories at the great Greek games were celebrated by Pindar, it had been usual at many Greek towns in Sicily to issue coins on the occasion of agonistic contests with appropriate types, such as a quadriga crowned by Nike.

It seems nevertheless certain that as a general rule no one special victory can have been alluded to in these agonistic types; they are rather a general expression of pride in the beauty of the horses and chariots which the city could enter in the lists, while perhaps they may likewise have been regarded, though in no very definite way, as a sort of invocation of the god who was the dispenser of victories: the Olympian Zeus, the Pythian Apollo, or some local divinity, perhaps a River-god or a Fountain- nymph, in whose honour games may have been celebrated in Sicily itself. Some such local import would account for the presence of the victorious quadriga on the money of some of the non-Hellenic towns in Sicily, which would certainly never have been admitted to compete at the Olympian, the Pythian, or other Greek games. The manner in which the quadriga is treated may be taken as a very accurate indica- tion of date. Down to about B.C. 440 the horses are seen advancing at a slow and stately pace; after that date they are always in high and often violent action, prancing or galloping; not until quite a late period (on the coins of Philistis) are they again represented as walking. The only exception to this rule is the mule-car on the coins of Messana, where the animals are never in rapid movement.

Period III. B.C. 413-346. The defeat of the Athenians was fol- lowed by an extraordinary outburst of artistic activity on the part of the great Sicilian cities, especially Syracuse. Syracuse and Agrigentum now issued their magnificent dekadrachms. The following names of engravers, among others, occur on coins of this period: at Syracuse, Euainetos, Kimon, Eukleidas, Parmenidas; at Agrigentum, Myr...; at Camarina, Exakestidas; at Himera, Mai...; at Messana, Kimon, Anan (?)...; at Naxus, Prokles; and at Catana, Herakleidas, Choirion) and Prokles.

One of the most striking peculiarities of Sicilian coins is the frequency with which personifications of Rivers and Nymphs are met with. Thus

on coins of Himera the type is that of the Nymph of the warm springs; on a coin of Naxus we see the head of a river Assinos (probably the same as the Akesines); at Catana we get a full-face head of the river Amenanos; at Gela and Agrigentum we see the rivers of those towns, the Gelas and the Akragas; while at Camarina the head of the Hipparis appears. On the coins of Selinus the rivers Hypsas and Selinos are represented as offering sacrifice.

In the archaic period the Sicilian rivers usually take the form of a man-headed bull, but in the transitional and fine periods they more often assume the human form, and appear as youths with short bulls’ horns over their foreheads.

Among the nymphs represented on Sicilian coins are Himera, Arethusa, Kyane (?), Kamarina, and Eurymedusa.

The Carthaginian invasion at the close of the fifth century spread ruin through the island and put an end to the coinage almost every- where. Syracuse alone of all the Greek silver-coining cities continued the uninterrupted issue of her beautiful tetradrachms and dekadrachms, and it was these which served as models for the Siculo-Punic currency of the Carthaginian towns.

It was probably at the beginning of this period that gold and bronze coins were first struck in Sicily, at any rate in considerable quantities. At the time of Dion’s expedition electrum was also introduced, and at Syracuse a large bronze litra was issued, the size of which shows that it was intended as real money and not as a token of artificial value.

Period IV. B.C. 345-317. With the expedition of the Corinthian Timoleon (B.C. 345) a new era began for Sicily. Timoleon was every- where the Liberator, and his influence is especially noticeable in the Sicilian coinage of his time. There are a few coin-types which now appear for the first time, not only at Syracuse, but at many other towns which Timoleon freed from their oppressors. Two of these types are the head of Zeus Eleutherios and the Free Horse. Pegasos-staters (first introduced by Dion in the previous period) and other coins with Corin- thian types were also now coined in Sicily in large quantities. The number of inland towns which at this particular time began to coin money is remarkable, e.g. Adranum, Aetna (Inessa), Agyrium, Alaesa, Centuripae, Herbessus, &c.

At all the above-mentioned Sikel cities we note the appearance of large and heavy bronze coins, which, unlike the older small bronze currency, are without any marks of value. This monetization of bronze was probably due to the increasing influence of the native Sikel peoples of the interior of the island, accus- tomed to use bronze as a medium of exchange, who now combined to support Timoleon, and issued at Alaesa, and perhaps elsewhere, a new federal currency in bronze, with the legends ΚΑΙΝΟΝ and ΣΥΜΜΑΧΙΚΟΝ.

Period V. B.C. 317-241. With the usurpation of Agathocles, Syra- cuse once more monopolizes the right of coinage for the whole of Sicily, even more distinctly than in the time of Dionysius. The civic coinages are entirely dominated by those of the great rulers, Agathocles, Hicetas, Pyrrhus, and Hieron II, down to the time of the First Punic War.

Period VI. B.C. 241-210. At the close of the First Punic War all Sicily, except the dominions of Hieron along the eastern coast from Tauromenium to Helorus, passed into the hands of the Romans. The immediate result of the new political status of the Sicilian communities was the issue of bronze money at a great number of mints, many of which, such as Amestratus, Cephaloedium, Iaetia, Lilybaeum, Menaenum, Paropus, Petra, &c., had never before possessed the right of coinage. Within the dominions of Syracuse, Tauromenium alone continued to coin in all metals.

Period VII. After B.C. 210. After the fall of Syracuse and the constitution of all Sicily into a Province of the Roman Republic, bronze coins continued to be issued at Syracuse, Panormus, and a great many other towns, probably-for at least a century. These late coins possess, however, but slight interest.

Abacaenum (Tripi) was a Sikel town situated some eight miles from the coast, towards the north-east extremity of the island.

Inscr. ΑΒΑΚΑΙΝΙΝΟΝ (usually abbreviated, but sometimes divided between Obv. and Rev.).

Head of Zeus laureate.	Boar. Symbols: acorn, corn-grain. AR Litra, c. 13 grs. and Hemilitron.
Head of nymph, facing, with flying hair.	Sow and pig. AR Litra.
Female head r.	Boar. AR Hemilitron 6 grs.

The bull is probably the little mountain-torrent Helikon.

»WW »SNG B »ANS

Acrae (Palazzuolo-Acreide) stood on a height some twenty miles due west of Syracuse, at the sources of the river Anapos. It was a depen- dency of Syracuse down to the capture of that city by the Romans.

»ANS

Adranum (Aderno), on the upper course of the river Adranos, a few miles south-west of Mt. Aetna, was founded by Dionysius circ. B.C. 400, and was dependent upon Syracuse until the time of Timoleon (B.C. 345), when it first struck coins. It owed its celebrity to the temple of the Sicilian divinity Adranos (Diod. xiv. 37).

The bronze coins of Adranum apparently all belong to one period :—

Head of Apollo, sometimes with ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝ beneath.	ΑΔΡΑΝΙΤΑΝ (sometimes wanting), Lyre. Æ 3 sizes, 1.2, .95 & .8
Head of young River Adranos, horned.	ΑΔΡΑΝΙΤΑΝ Rushing Bull. Æ .85
Head of Sikelia wreathed with myrtle, hair in sphendone.	No inscr. Lyre. Æ 1.2
Id.	ΑΔΡΑΝΙΤΑΝ Hippocamp. Æ .65
Female head.	ΑΔΡΑ Corn-grain in wreath. Æ .45

»WW »SNG B »ANS

Aetna. This name was at first given by Hieron to the city of Catana, when in B.C. 476 he expelled the Catanaeans and repeopled their city with a mixed body of Syracusans and Peloponnesians. For the coins struck at Catana during the fifteen years that it bore the name of Aetna, see Catana. The Aetnaeans (when they were expelled in B.C. 461) retired to Inessa (S. Maria di Licodia) on the southern slope of Mt. Aetna, about ten miles north-west of Catana, and to this place they transferred the name of Aetna and continued to look upon Hieron as their oekist (Diod. xi. 76). Aetna was always more or less dependent upon Syracuse, and was garrisoned by Syracusans before the Athenian war (Thuc. iii. 103). In B.C. 396 Dionysius established at Aetna a garrison of Campa- nians, who held the town until the time of Timoleon, B.C. 339, when the city regained its freedom. It is to the Campanian period that the first issue of its coins belongs.

The resemblance in style between the last mentioned coin and certain pieces of Nacona and Entella, issued while those cities were in the hands of the Campanians, is striking.

The coinage is not resumed until the Roman period.

»WW »SNG B »ANS

Agrigentum was by far the richest and most magnificent city on the south coast of Sicily. The ruined temples still to be seen at Girgenti would alone be sufficient to prove its ancient splendour. It stood on a height a few miles from the sea near the confluence of the two rivers Akragas and Hypsas.

»M'berg »WW »SNG B »ANS

Its coinage begins during the prosperous period which intervened between the fall of the tyrant Phalaris (circ. B.C. 550), and the accession of Theron to supreme power (circ. B.C. 488).

The Eagle and the Crab have been usually taken as emblems of Zeus and Poseidon, but it may be doubted whether the crab is not in this case the fresh-water crab common in the rivers of Italy, Sicily, and Greece. If so, the crab represents the river Akragas and is the παρασημον of the city.

Theron of Agrigentum made himself master of Himera, B.C. 482. Α comparison of certain coins of Himera bearing Agrigentine types, which can only belong to the time of Theron, with some of the latest specimens of the series above described, is sufficient to fix the date of the latter.

The great victory of Theron and Gelon of Syracuse over the Cartha- ginians at Himera resulted in the further aggrandizement of Agrigentum. Theron died B.C. 472, after which a democracy was established, and a period of unexampled prosperity commenced which terminated only with the Carthaginian invasion in B.C. 406.

Numismatically, however, this space of sixty-seven years must be divided into two periods, which may be characterized as those of Transi- tional Art, B.C. 472-circ. B.C. 413, and of Finest Art, B.C. 413-406.

FIG. 65.

Inscriptions and Types (Eagle and Crab), as in the Period of archaic art. The Eagle sometimes stands on the capital of a column. On the reverse symbols are of frequent occurrence, flying Nike, rose, star, volute ornament (Fig. 65), and others.

Denominations. Tetradrachm, Didrachm, Drachm with letters ΠΕΝ (= Pentalitron), Litra (with ΛΙ), Pentonkion with mark of value :·:. There are also coins with obv. eagle’s head, viz. litra, rev. tripod; half- litra (?), rev. A; and hexas, rev. :. A bronze coin with eagle and crab also belongs to the close of this period.

The Tetradrachm apparently was not struck at Agrigentum before circ. B.C. 472.

To this period may also be attributed a series of very strange-looking lumps of bronze, made in the shape of a tooth with a flat base, having on one side an eagle or eagle’s head, and on the other a crab, while on the base

¹ A specimen at Paris (Salinas, Pl. IV. 15), weighing 173-77 grains, appears to show that Agrigentum also issued coins of the Aeginetic standard.

The weights of these coins point to a litra of about 750 grs.

FIG. 66.

In this period the coinage reflects the splendour to which Agrigentum had now attained.

ΑΚΡΑ Eagle devouring serpent. Mark of value ••	ΣΙΛΑΝΟΣ Crab. AV wt. 20.4 grs. [Brit. Mus. Guide, Pl. XVI. 14.]
ΑΚΡ Eagle devouring serpent. [Strozzi Sale Catal. 1288.]	Crab; below, dolphin. AV 20.5 grs.

Two eagles standing on a hare on the summit of a mountain; one lifts his head as if screaming, while the other, with wings raised, is about to attack the hare with its beak. Symbol in field: Locust.

ΑΚΡΑΓΑΣ Male charioteer driving quadriga. Above an eagle flying with a serpent in its claws. Beneath, a crab (Fig. 66). AR Dekadrachm, wt. 670 grs.

The finest known specimen of this rare and beautiful coin is in the Munich collection. See Th. Reinach, L'Histoire par les Monnaies, pp. 89-98.

Similar type, sometimes with magis- trates’ names ΣΤΡΑΤΩΝ or ΣΙΛΑΝΟΣ. Symbols: locust, bull's head, lion’s head, head of River-god.

ΑΚΡΑΓΑΝΤΙΝΟΝ Quadriga driven by winged Nike or by charioteer crowned by flying Nike. Symbols: crab, Skylla, knotted staff or vine- branch, &c. Engraver’s name ΜΥΡ.

[Brit. Mus. Guide, Pl. XVI. 16.]. AR Tetradrachm.

Similar, or single Eagle devouring hare.

Crab; beneath, Skylla or river-fish.

[Gardner, Types, Pl. VI. 32, 33.]. AR Tetradrachm.

Didrachms, Drachms, Hemidrachms, and Litrae, or Obols, with simpler varieties of the above types; the carapace of the crab on the drachm resembles a human face.

As a powerful composition the type of the two eagles with the hare is perhaps superior to any other contemporary Sicilian coin-type, and is certainly the work of an artist of no mean capacity. The subject cannot fail to remind us of the famous passage in one of the grandest choruses of the Agamemnon (ll. 110-120), where the poet describes just such

οιωνων βασιλευς βασιλευσι νεων ο κελαινος, ο τ’ εξοπιν αργας,
φανεντες ικταρ μελαθρων, χερος εκ δοριπαλτου, παμπρεπτοις εν εδραισιν,
βοσκομενοι λαγιναν ερικυμονα φερματι γενναν, βλαβεντα λοισθιον δρομων.

The names ΣΤΡΑΤΩΝ and ΣΙΛΑΝΟΣ are too conspicuous to be the signatures of artists; they must therefore be regarded as magistrates.

Other small bronze coins (Salinas, xi. 24-7) have modifications of the above types (eagle’s head, crab’s claw, &c.).

The actual weights of these bronze coins, large and small, together yield an average of 613 grs. for the litra. This perhaps shows that the litra had already been reduced from 3375 grs., its original weight, to 1/5 of that weight, or 675 grs., a reduction which is thought by Mommsen (Momm.-Blacas, i. p. 112) to have taken place in the time of Dionysius, but which the weights of the bronze coins of Camarina (p. 130), and Himera (p. 146), if they are of any value as evidence, prove to have occurred much earlier.

After the memorable destruction of Agrigentum by the Carthaginians in B.C. 406, the surviving inhabitants appear to have returned to their ruined homes; but until Timoleon’s time the town can hardly be said to have existed as an independent state. No new coins were issued in the interval, but the bronze money already in circulation seems to have been frequently countermarked in this period.

Timoleon, circ. B.C. 338, recolonized the city (Plut. Tim. 35) with a body of Velians, and from this time it began to recover some small degree of prosperity.

268 grs. is the average weight of the four specimens of the hemilitron in the British Museum, according to which the Litra would weigh 536 grs., which is intermediate between the first and the second reduc- tions of the Litra.

There are also bronze coins of this period without marks of value, obv. Head of Zeus, rev. Eagle devouring hare, or winged fulmen. Size, .75-.55.

The coins attributed to this period are not numerous, owing to the fact that during the greater part of the reign of Agathocles at Syracuse (B.C. 317-289), Agrigentum was compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of that city, which for a time usurped the right of coining money for all those parts of the island subject to her dominion.

After the death of Agathocles, a tyrant named Phintias rose to the supreme power at Agrigentum, and extended his dominions also over other parts of Sicily.

Coins struck by Phintias for all his dominions.

Head of river Akragas, horned, and with flowing hair, crowned with reeds. [Imhoof, Mon. gr., Pl. A. 16.]	ΒΑΣΙΛΕΟΣ ΦΙΝΤΙΑ Wild boar. Æ .8
Head of Artemis.	„    „   Id. Æ .8
Id., with ΣΩΤΕΙΡΑ.	„    „   Id. Æ .8

The type of these coins illustrates in a remarkable manner a passage of Diodorus (Reliq. xxii. 7), in which he tells how Phintias ειδεν οναρ δηλουν την του βιου καταστροφην, υν αγριον κυνηγοντος ορμησαι κατ’ αυτου την υν, και την πλενραν αυτου τοις οδουσι παταξαι και διελασαυτα την πληγην κτειναι. We seem here to have a clear instance of a coin-type having been chosen with the avowed object of propitiating the goddess Artemis whose anger the tyrant probably thought he had incurred.

Nearly all the remaining coins of Agrigentum may be classed to this period, during which the city was for the most part an independent ally of the Carthaginians against the Romans and Hieron II.

On the conclusion of the First Punic War (B.C. 241) Agrigentum passed under Roman dominion.

Head of Zeus.	ΑΚΡΑΓΑΝ ΤΙΝΩΝ Eagle with spread wings, various letters in the field. AR 58 and 26 grs.
Id. [Salinas. xiii. 11.]	„  Fulmen. AR Litra 12.7 grs.
Head of Apollo, a serpent sometimes crawling up in front.	Two eagles on hare. Æ .85
ΑΚΡΑΓΑΝΤΙΝΩΝ Young head of Zeus Soter diademed.	ΔΙΟΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ Eagle on fulmen. Æ .85
Head of Apollo.	ΑΚΡΑΓΑΝΤΙΝΩΝ Tripod. Æ .85
Id.	„   Naked warrior thrusting with spear. Æ .95

Cicero (Verr. iv. 43) mentions a statue of Apollo by Myron which stood in the temple of Asklepios at Agrigentum. The curious coin-type above described, where a serpent is seen crawling up the face of Apollo, taken in conjunction with the words of Cicero, seems to indicate a connexion between the cults of Apollo and Asklepios at Agrigentum.

The three coins last described sometimes occur with the name of the Roman Quaestor Manius Acilius on the reverse instead of ΑΚΡΑΓΑΝΤΙΝΩΝ; the same magistrate also issued from Agrigentum an As with the head of Janus and his name in a laurel-wreath, and a semis with the head of Jupiter.

For the Imperial coins of Agrigentum struck under Augustus, see Holm, p. 727, nos. 735-6.

Agyrium (Agira) was a large town in the interior of Sicily, standing on a steep hill, almost midway between Enna and Centuripae. At this town Herakles, during his wanderings in Sicily, had been received with divine honours, and down to a late period Herakles, his kinsman Iolaos, and Geryon, continued to be revered there. Its coins fall into three periods.

»M'berg »WW »SNG B »ANS

These two coins probably belong to the time when the city was governed by a tyrant named Agyris, a contemporary and ally of Dionysius (Diod. xiv. 9, 78, 95), or at latest to the time of Dion. Palankaios is perhaps the name of a river.

About the middle of the fourth century Agyrium was governed by another tyrant, by name Apolloniades. This despot was deposed by Timoleon, B. G. 339. The coins which I would give to the years imme- diately preceding the liberation by Timoleon are the following:—

Head of young Herakles in lion-skin.	Forepart of man-headed bull. Æ 1.2
Man-headed bull, and star.	Id. Æ 1.2
Head of young Herakles or Iolaos wearing taenia and lion-skin.	ΑΓΥΡΙΝΑΙΩΝ Leopard devouring a hare. Æ 1.1
Head of Apollo, behind, bow.	„  Hound on scent. Æ .7
Head of Zeus. [Tropea, p. 8.]	„   Female figure sacri- ficing. Æ
Head of Apollo radiate. [Tropea, p. 9.]	„   Warrior standing with spear and shield Æ

The following, from their types, appear to be subsequent to B.C. 339 (inscr. ΑΓΥΡΙΝΑΙΩΝ or abbreviation):—

ΖΕΥΣ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΟΣ Head of Zeus Eleutherios laur.	Fulmen; in field r., eagle (as on con- temporary coin of Syracuse). Æ 1.
Head of Athena in crested helmet.	Club and bow (?) (restruck on previous coins). Æ 1.
Head of young River-god horned.	Free horse. Æ 1.

In the third century we hear of Agyrium as subject to Phintias of Agrigentum. Subsequently the territory of the city was largely in- creased by Hieron of Syracuse, and even under Roman rule it remained a place of some importance. It is to this late period that the following coins belong:—

Alaesa (Tusa) was built on a hill about eight stadia from the sea (Diod. xiv. 16), on the north side of Sicily, in the year B.C. 403, by a colony of Sikels under a chief named Archonides, after whom the city was sometimes called Alaesa Archonidea (cf. the inscriptions on the later coins).

»M'berg »WW »SNG B »ANS

Its earliest coins date from the period of Timoleon’s war with the Carthaginians (B.C. 340), when many Sikel and Sicanian towns joined the alliance against the Carthaginians (Diod. xvi. 73). From the in- scription ΑΛΑΙΣΙΝΩΝ ΣΥΜΜΑΧΙΚΟΝ Alaesa would seem to have been among the chief of the Sicilian allies of Timoleon, but, as the word

The heads of Zeus Eleutherios, of Apollo as original leader of the colonists, and of Sikelia herself, are all most appropriate on coins of an alliance formed under the auspices of Timoleon, as are also the torch and ears of corn, the symbols of Demeter and Persephone, under whose special protection Timoleon set out (Plut. Tim. c. 8; Diod. xvi. 66). The remaining coins of Alaesa belong to the following century, when it began, simultaneously with many other Sicilian towns, to coin money again after its submission to Rome during the First Punic War.

Considerably later than the foregoing are the coins of Alaesa with Latin inscriptions:—

HAL. ARC. Head of Artemis (?).	Tripod. Æ .8
„  ,,  „    „	CAEC. R. II VIR Lyre. Æ .85
HALAESA ARC. Head of Apollo (?).	M. CASSIVSM. ANT Wreath. Æ .9

To the time of Augustus belong coins with the name of the magistrate M. PACCIVS MACXV(mus): see Holm, p. 729, nos. 754, 754a.

Aluntium (San Marco d'Alunzio), on the north coast of the island

»WW »ANS

Amestratus (Mistretta), about eight miles south-west of Calacte. a town mentioned only by Cicero and Stephanus.

»M'berg

Assorus (Assaro), an inland Sikel town, midway between Enna and Agyrium.

The figure on the first of these coins is probably a copy of that ‘simulacrum praeclare factum ex marmore’ which Cicero (Verr. iv. 44) describes as having stood on the road from Enna to Assorus, perhaps on the bank of the river Chrysas.

»SNG B »ANS

Caena. Concerning the coins reading ΚΑΙΝΟΝ, sometimes ascribed to this town, see Alaesa and p. 117.

Calacte (Caronia), on the northern coast, midway between Tyndaris and Cephaloedium, was a Peloponnesian colony founded in B.C. 446 by the Sikel chief Ducetius on his return from his exile in Corinth. Its coins are all of a late period.

The first of the above coins is clearly copied from the late Athenian coins. Note the close correspondence between obv. and rev. types (Mac- donald, Coin Types, pp. 119 ff.).

»SNG B »ANS

Camarina was a colony of Syracuse, founded circ. B.C. 599, between, the mouths of the Oanis and the Hipparis, on the south coast of Sicily. In consequence of a revolt against Syracuse it was destroyed by that city about B.C. 552. In B.C. 495 it was rebuilt and recolonized by Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, but again destroyed about B.C. 484 by Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse. Tc this period the following archaic silver litrae seem to belong.

»WW »SNG B »ANS

The city was once more rebuilt as a colony of Gela in B.C. 461, and from this time until the removal of its citizens to Syracuse in B.C. 405 it enjoyed great prosperity. Pindar’s fourth Olympian ode and the ode which follows it record the victory of Psaumis the Camarinaean in the chariot race B.C. 456 or 452, an agonistic victory which Poole (Coins of Camarina, p. 2) believed to be commemorated on the tetradrachms of Camarina, struck during the latter half of the fifth century.

On the later specimens the head of Herakles is not bearded, and an artist’s name ΕΞΑΚΕΣΤΙΔΑΣ is sometimes written on the exergual line (Fig. 67), or (abbreviated) on a diptychon before the head of Herakles.

FIG. 67.

The following gold coin (which is more probably of Camarina than of Catana) belongs to the close of this period :—

Head of Athena; on her helmet a hippo- camp. [Brit. Mus. Guide, Pl. XVI. 19.]

Two olive-leaves with berries; between them ΚΑ. AV 18 grs.

To the close of this period also belong the following beautiful didrachms :—

FIG. 68.

The smaller silver coins are litrae weighing 13 grs. maximum.

Head of Athena.	Nike with streaming fillet.
ΚΑΜΑ Head of Nymph Kamarina.	Id.
ΚΑΜΑΡΙΝΑ Id.	Swan swimming over waves.

Concerning these coins Poole remarks (l. c.) that nothing can be more striking than the agreement of the coin-types with the words of Pindar, ‘with both, the Nymph Kamarina holds the foremost but not the highest place in the local worship, with both, Athena is the tutelary divinity, with both, the reverence for the river Hipparis is associated with that for the sacred lake.’

The bronze coins of Camarina yield a litra of 221 grs. Cf. remarks on the bronze money of Agrigentum, p. 122, and Himera, p. 146.

In the time of Timoleon Camarina recovered to some extent from the calamities inflicted upon her by the Carthaginians (Diod. xvi. 82). It is to this period that both style and types of the following coins seem to point:—

[ΚΑΜ]ΑΡ.. Athena standing. [Sa- linas, xvi. 25.]	Free horse with raised l. foot. AR Litra.
ΚΑΜΑΡΙΝΑΙΩΝ Head of Athena in round Athenian helmet.	Free horse prancing. Æ .6

After this time no coins of Camarina are known.

Campani. To the Campanian mercenaries of Dionysius are usually attributed the following coins, of which the large bronze is struck over a Syracusan bronze litra (Holm, Nos. 370-2). They have also been given to Tauromenium (Head, Syr., p. 36), and Mataurus (Hill, Sicily, p. 185). The mon. may consist of the letters ΚΑΜ.

For other coins struck by the Campanians in Sicily see Aetna, Entella, Nacona, and Tyrrheni.

»SNG B »ANS

Catana, which stood at the foot of Mount Aetna, was a Chalcidian colony from Naxus.

»M'berg »WW »SNG B »ANS

Its inhabitants were expelled by Hieron of Syracuse B.C. 476, to make way for a colony of Syracusans. These were, however, driven out B.C. 461, and the old inhabitants restored. The name of the town was changed to Aetna by Hieron when he founded his new colony there, but it was again called Catana after B.C. 461.

FIG. 69.

In style these tetradrachms are decidedly in advance of the con- temporary coins of most other Sicilian cities. With regard to the mean- ing of the types, it is perhaps preferable to look upon the bull as the river-god Amenanos (who on later coins is represented in human form) rather than, with Eckhel, as the tauriform Dionysos. The figure of Nike on the reverse may be compared with the winged figure of Nike- Terina (see Terina). They are both doubtless agonistic types.

Head of bald Seilenos with pointed ears.

ΚΑΤΑΝΕ Fulmen with two curled wings. AR Litra, 13 grs. max.

The form of the fulmen on these coins is unusual.

FIG. 70.

This unique coin, now in the Brussels Cabinet (bequest of the Baron de Hirsch), is in many ways highly instructive as showing the point of development which art had attained in Sicily between B.C. 476 and 461. The scarabaei of Aetna were remarkable for their enormous size (cf. Schol. Ar. Pac., 73), hence the scarab as a symbol on the obverse.

As Mount Aetna was also famous for its prolific vines (cf. Strab., p. 269), Zeus Αιτναιος, under whose special protection the city of Aetna was placed, is appropriately shown as resting on a vine-staff. The pine-tree is also a local symbol no less characteristic than the vine-staff, for the slopes of Mount Aetna were at one time richly clad with pine and fir trees, την Αιτνην ορος γεμον κατ’ εκεινους τους χρονους πολυτελους ελατης τε και πευκης (Diod. xiv. 42). Cf. Pindar, Pyth. i. 53. For a full account of this coin see Num. Chron., 1883, p. 171.

Similar head of Seilenos, sometimes with ivy-wreath, as on the tetra- drachm, sometimes laureate, and sometimes bare.

ΑΙΤΝΑΙ Winged fulmen, as on tetra- drachm: the whole in incuse circle. AR Litra or Obol.

The Aetnaeans, expelled B.C. 461, retired to a neighbouring stronghold called Inessa, to which they transferred the name of Aetna. For the coins struck at this new Aetna, see p. 119.

Head of Apollo laur., hair usually gathered up behind and tucked under the string of his wreath.

Quadriga of walking horses; above, on the later specimens, a flying Nike. AR Tetradrachm. [Brit. Mus. Guide, Pl. XVI. 20.]

FIG. 71.

Catana was for a time the head-quarters of the Athenians during their expedition against Syracuse. The finest coins date from this time until the capture of the city by Dionysius in B.C. 404, when, according to his frequent practice, he sold the population into slavery and gave up the city to his Campanian mercenaries.

For a gold coin of this period, which may belong to Catana, see Camarina.

The tetradrachms of this period always have the inscr. ΚΑΤΑΝΑΙΩΝ. The heads of Amenanos (?) in profile resemble those of the previous period, but belong to a more advanced stage of art (Imhoof, Mon. gr., Pl. A. 17).

The horses of the chariot on the reverse are in rapid action. On one beautiful specimen, signed on the reverse by the Syracusan engraver Euainetos, the chariot is seen wheeling round the goal. Aquatic symbols, such as a crab or a crayfish, are often added on one or other side of the coin. One piece is signed by an artist named ΠΡΟΚΛΗΣ. who worked also for the Naxian mint (Weil, Winckcelmanns-Programm, 1884, Pl. II. 12). The following are the most important silver coins of this time:—

Head of Apollo laur. facing, between a bow and a lyre. Beneath, ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝ; artist’s name, ΧΟΙΡΙΩΝ. [Holm, Pl. VI. 4=Mac- donald, Hunter Catal. I. p. 172. 12.]

ΚΑΤΑΝΑΙΩΝ Fast quadriga; in the background an Ionic column (the meta). In ex., crayfish. AR Tetradrachm.

FIG. 72.

Of this coin a variety (without bow and lyre), signed by the engraver Herakleidas, shows a laureate head facing with loose hair (Fig. 72). On some specimens the Nike holding wreath and caduceus is descending through the air in an upright posture towards the charioteer.

Some of the heads on the Catanaean tetradrachms are bound with a plain taenia in place of the laurel-wreath; all such (and apparently some also which are laureate) are heads of the river Amenanos, although he is without the characteristic horn of the river-god. On the following small denominations Amenanos is represented as a horned youth:—

Young head of Amenanos horned, with lank loose hair, three-quarter face. Around, two river-fishes. [Hill, Sicily, Pl. IX. 5.]	Fast quadriga. AR Drachm.
ΑΜΕΝΑΝΟΣ Similar head in pro- file, horned, and bound with taenia. Beneath, artist’s signature, ΕΥΑΙ or ΧΟΙΡΙΩΝ; around, crayfish and two river-fishes.	Similar. AR Drachm.
ΑΜΕΝΑ[νος] Full-face head of Ame- nanos horned, with wavy flowing hair. Artist’s signature, ΧΟΙ.	Quadriga driven by female charioteer. Beneath, Maeander-pattern. Artist's name ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΔΑ. AR Drachm.
Head of bald and bearded Seilenos facing. [Holm, Pl. VI. 7.]	Head of Amenanos wearing taenia. AR Drachm.
Id.	Head of Apollo laur. AR Half-drachm.
Head of bald Seilenos in profile, some- times with ivy-wreath.	Fulmen, usually with two wings. In field, two disks. AR Litra and smaller coins.
Head of nymph wearing sphendone.	Rushing bull. AR Obol or Litra.

About B.C. 404 is to be dated an alliance coin of Catana and Leontini.

ΛΕ ΟΝ Head of Apollo. [Num. Chr., 1896, Pl. IX. 7 and Pl. X.]

ΚΑΤΑΝΑΙΩΝ Rushing bull; in exer- gue, fish. AR Half-drachm.

There are not many bronze coins of Catana which can be attributed to the best period of art. The following may, however, be mentioned :—

ΚΑΤΑΝΑΙΩΝ Head of Persephone, as on dekadrachms of Syracuse; around, dolphins.	Man-headed bull walking. Æ .95
ΚΑΤΑΝΑΙΩΝ Head of Persephone with long hair.	Fulmen as above. Æ .75
ΑΜΕΝΑΝΟΣ Young horned head of river-god.	ΚΑ fulmen with spread wings. Æ .55

Of the subsequent history of Catana we possess very slight informa- tion. We know that the city continued to exist, but it does not seem to have struck any coins for more than a century. During the First Punic War it submitted to Rome, and under the Roman rule it attained great prosperity.

The bronze coins of Catana, which belong chiefly to the end of the third and to the second century, are very numerous.

Head of Athena.	Fulmen. Æ .65
Reclining river-god.	Helmets of the Dioskuri. Æ .75
Head of Seilenos.	Grapes. Æ .5
Heads of Sarapis and Isis.	Two ears of corn. Æ .5

With marks of value.

Litra. Head of Poseidon.	Dolphin. Mk. of value XII. Æ .55
Dekonkion. Heads of Sarapis and Isis.	Apollo standing  „    „  X. Æ .8
Pentonkion. Head of Apollo.	Isis standing, holds bird  „    „  Π. Æ .8
Hexas. Id.	Id. II. Æ .7

ΛΑΣΙΟ Head of young Dionysos.

The Catanaean brothers carrying their parents. [Hill, Sicily, Pl. XIV. 16.]. Æ .8

Λασιος is probably a local name of Dionysos. The meaning of the word, ‘hairy,’ is appropriate to the god whose characteristic garment was the hairy fawn-skin, νεβρις.

One of the Catanaean brothers carry- ing his father.

The other brother carrying his mother. Æ .7-.5

These types allude to a popular tale that once during a fearful eruption of Aetna in the fifth century, when a stream of lava was descending upon Catana, and when every man was eagerly bent upon saving his treasures, the brothers Amphinomos and Anapias bore off on their shoulders their aged parents, but the lava overtook them, heavily laden as they were, and their doom seemed inevitable, when the fiery stream miraculously parted and let them pass scatheless. Ever after

Head of young Dionysos.	Dionysos in car drawn by panthers. Æ .9
Head of Hermes.	Nike with wreath and palm. Æ .85
Head of Zeus Ammon. [Hill, Sicily, Pl. XIV. 14.]	Aequitas with scales and cornucopiae. Æ .9
Head of Sarapis.	Isis standing with sceptre and sistrum; beside her, Harpokrates. Æ 1.1
Janiform head of Sarapis wearing modius. [Ibid., Pl. XIV. 12.]	Demeter standing with torch and ears of corn. Æ .95

The coins with marks of value in Roman numerals are clearly con- temporary with those of Rhegium with similar marks (p. 112). They usually bear in addition very elaborate monograms. There is no evi- dence that the money of Catana was continued after the end of the second or the beginning of the first century B.C.

Centuripae (Centorbi) was a city of the Sikels of some importance as a strong place. No coins are known of it before the middle of the fourth century, when, in common with many other Sicilian towns, it was liberated from tyrannical rule by Timoleon (B.C. 339). It then restruck with its own types the large bronze coins of Syracuse (obv. Head of Athena, rev. Star-fish between dolphins):—

Between this time and that of the First Punic War, when it submitted to Rome, no coins are known.

In style these coins are very uniform, and they seem to be all of the third century B.C. For the correspondence between obv. and rev. types see Macdonald, Coin Types, p. 120. The territory of Centuripae was very productive of corn, and the inhabitants were farmers on a large scale, ‘arant enim tota Sicilia fere Centuripini’ (Cic. II Verr. iii. 45).

»WW »SNG B »ANS

Cephaloedium (Cefalù), on the north side of the island, stood, as its name implies, on a headland jutting out into the sea. In early times it formed part of the territory of Himera, and in B.C. 409 it fell into the hands of the Carthaginians. The mint known as Rash Melkarth (‘Promontory of Herakles’) is probably to be identified with this place, rather than with Heraclea Minoa (see Holm, No. 398). Cephaloedium was recovered by Dionysius in B.C. 396. To the period of Carthaginian occupation belong the following coins:—

»M'berg »SNG B »ANS

Head of Persephone; around, dolphins (copied from coins by Euainetos). [Holm, Pl. VIII. 9.]	Punic inscr. דש מלקדח Victorious quad- riga. AR Tetradr.
Female head; around, dolphins. [Hill, Sicily, Pl. X. 1.]	Similar. AR Tetradr.
Bearded male head, laureate (Melkarth). [Ibid., Pl. IX. 16.]	„   AR Tetradr.

On some specimens the inscription is דאש מלקדח. The work is at first very good, but rapidly degenerates. Coins were issued during this period by the exiled inhabitants of Cephaloedium, but at what place we cannot say :—

ΕΚ ΚΕΦΑΛΟΙΔΙΟΥ Head of young Herakles in lion-skin.	ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΩΤΑΝ Rushing bull. [Holm, Pl. VI. 10.]. AR 24-23 grs.
Id.	Id. AR 12.5 grs.
Similar head; inscr. off the flan.	ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΩ... Id. Æ .65

The next coins of Cephaloedium belong to the period after its capture by the Romans in B.C. 254.

ΚΕΦΑΛΟΙΔΙΟΥ Head of young Herakles.	Pegasos. Æ .5
Head of bearded Herakles, laur.	ΚΕΦΑ Herakles standing to front. Æ .95
Id.	„  Club, bow, quiver, and lion-skin. Æ .9
Head of bearded Herakles bound with taenia. [Tropea, p. 15, Nos. 5-6.]	„  Helmet, cuirass, greaves, shield, club, and quiver. Æ
Head of Apollo, laur. [Tropea, No. 18.]	„  Apollo with phiale and lyre. Æ
Head of Hermes.	„  Caduceus. Æ .5
C. CANINIVS II VIR Young male head.	„  Herakles holding club and apple. Æ .95
C. L. DOMINVS Head of Herakles, laur. [Tropea, p. 17, No. 28.]	„  Herakles holding lion-skin. Æ

Enna (Castrogiovanni), in the centre of Sicily, stood on a fertile plateau, about three miles in extent, on the lofty summit of a mountain defended on all sides by steep cliffs. It was held to be one of the most sacred places in Sicily, being the chief seat of the cultus of Demeter, and the scene of the rape of Persephone. Its earliest coins are litrae of the period of early transitional art.

»M'berg »WW »SNG B »ANS

The bronze coins of Enna are of two distinct periods.

These statues of Demeter and Triptolemos, the former holding in her hand a Nike, are mentioned by Cicero (II Verr. iv. 49). The coins of Enna as a Roman Municipium, reading MVN. HENNAE, are the latest which we possess of the town. They bear the names of M. CESTIVS and L. MVNATIVS II VIR[I], and among the remarkable reverse-types are Hades in quadriga carrying off Persephone, and Trip- tolemos standing holding ears of corn.

Entella (Rocca d'Entella), originally an Elymian town, stood on a lofty summit in the interior of the island on the river Hypsas. Its earliest coins are of silver :—

»M'berg »WW »SNG B »ANS

Female figure sacrificing.	ΕΝΤΕΑ (retrogr.) Man-headed bull (River Hypsas). AR Litra.
Head of young Herakles in lion-skin.	ΕΝΤ ::: AR Hemilitron.

In B.C. 404 the Campanian mercenaries who had been in the service of the Carthaginians seized upon Entella, which they held for many years. The following coins were struck under their occupation, but not until the time of Timoleon. (Head, Syracuse, p. 36 note.) For other coins struck by the Campanians in Sicily see Aetna, Campani, Nacona, and Tyrrheni.

The name of L. Sempronius Atratinus, who commanded in Sicily in the time of M. Antonius, also occurs on coins of Lilybaeum.

Eryx (Mte. S. Giuliano) stood on the summit of an isolated mountain at the north-west extremity of Sicily. Here was the far-famed temple of Aphrodite Erycina of Phoenician origin. In the archaic period Eryx would seem from its coin-types to have been for a time dependent upon Agrigentum, probably, like Himera, in the time of Theron.

»WW »SNG B »ANS

In the transitional period the town appears to have been in close rela- tions with the neighbouring city of Segesta, for the reverse-type, the dog, is common to the coins of both towns. Cf. also the unexplained termina- tion ΖIB which occurs on coins of this city as well as at Segesta and on an alliance coin between the two cities (see Segesta).

Inscr. on obv. or rev. usually ΕΡΥΚΙΝΟΝ.

Victorious quadriga, horses in rapid action.	Aphrodite seated, holding dove; Before her, Eros. [Gardner, Types, Pl. VI. 3.]. AR Tetradrachm.
Aphrodite seated holding dove : before her, Eros. [Hill, Sicily, Pl. IX. 11.]	ΙRVΚΑΖΙΙΒ (retr.). Dog and three stalks of corn. AR Tetradr.
Aphrodite seated before tree, holding dove.	Dog; above, swastika. AR Litra or Obol.
Aphrodite seated, crowned by flying Eros.	Dog.   „    „
Aphrodite seated, drawing towards her a naked youth (wingless Eros).	Dog on prostrate hare. AR Litra or Obol.
Head of Aphrodite r., in sphendone.	Dog. AR ½ Lit. or ½ Ob.

During the greater part of the fourth century Eryx was in the hands of the Carthaginians, and it is to this period that the coins with the Punic inscr. ארך belong.

Head of Aphrodite l. [Holm, Pl. VIII. 7.]	Punic inscr. Man-headed bull standing AR Obol
Head of Athena.	„  Pegasos. AR Didr.

The last type is due to the influence of the Corinthian coinage in Dion’s or Timoleon’s time.

There are also bronze coins which belong to the middle of the fourth century.

ΕΡΥΚΙΝΩΝ Head of Zeus Eleuthe- rios.	Aphrodite seated, holding dove. Æ 1.25 (Restruck on large Æ of Syracuse.)
Trias. Bearded head.	Dog. ••• Æ 1.03
Hexas. Id.	Id. •• Æ .8
Uncia. Id.	Id. Æ
Trias. ΕΡΥΚΙΝΟΝ Head of Aphro- dite.	Dog. ••• Æ .6
Hexas. ΗΕΖΑΣ (retr.) Head of Aphrodite. [Num. Zt., 18, Pl. VI. 4.]	Dog. •• Æ .65
Uncia. Head of Aphrodite.	Dog. ΟΝΚΙΑ. Æ .55

The bearded head may be intended for that of the eponymous hero Eryx.

In Roman times the sanctuary of Aphrodite Erycina was held in great honour, a body of troops being appointed to watch over it, and the principal cities of Sicily being ordered to contribute towards the cost of its maintenance in due splendour.

Galaria (Gagliano ?). An ancient Sikel town about six miles to the north of Agyrium, founded, according to Stephanus, by Morges, a Sikel chief.

»ANS

Gela (Terranova). After Syracuse and Agrigentum, Gela was the wealthiest city in Sicily in early times. In the reigns of Hippocrates,

»WW »SNG B »ANS

FIG. 73.

Quadriga, horses walking, usually with Nike floating above. On some speci- mens the meta or goal, in the form of an Ionic column, is seen behind the horses; on some, the Nike is on rev.	<ΛΑΣ forepart of bearded man- headed bull, swimming (Fig. 73). AR Tetradr.
Naked horseman armed, with helmet, wielding spear; horse prancing.	<ΕΛΑΣ Bull represented entire, swim- ming r. AR Tetradr.

[N. C., 1883, Pl. IX. 3, and 1894, Pl. VII. 6.]

The type of the first of these tetradrachms is agonistic. The appear- ance of the horseman on the coinage shows the importance of cavalry in the Geloan army.

Similar horseman.	<ΕΛΑΣ Forepart of man-headed bull AR Didr.
Horseman with spear. [Holm, Pl. I. 16.]	<ΕΛΟΙΟΝ Forepart of man-headed bull. AR Drachm.
Horse with bridle; above, a victor's wreath.	<ΕΛΑΣ Forepart of man-headed bull AR Litra.
<ΕΛ Forepart of man-headed bull.	Wheel. AR Obol.

On some of the tetradrachms and litrae the name is written <ΕΛΑ, which is less probably an abbreviation of the river-name <ΕΛΑΣ than the nominative of the city-name.

After the expulsion from Syracuse of the dynasty of Gelon in B.C. 466, the inhabitants of Gela, who had been forcibly removed to Syracuse, returned to their native town, and from this time until its destruction by the Carthaginians in B.C. 405 it enjoyed great prosperity.

The goddess here called Sosipolis is the guardian divinity or Tyche of the city. She is represented as crowning the river-god. The coins were probably issued on the occasion of some local games.

Horseman armed with shield and spear.

<ΕΛΑΣ Forepart of man-headed bull AR Litra or Obol.

The period immediately succeeding the defeat of the Athenians is that to which all these small Sicilian gold coins of Syracuse, Gela, and Camarina, weighing usually 27, 18, and 9 grs., undoubtedly belong.

FIG. 74.

The presence of the Ω on this and the preceding coins shows that they belong to the last decade before the destruction of the city.

Armed horseman spearing prostrate foe. [Holm, Pl. VI. 6.]

ΓΕΛΑ[Σ] Similar head of Gelas; the whole within a wreath AR Didrachm.

This type may commemorate the victory of the Geloan cavalry over Athenian hoplites (Holm, Gesch. Sic., ii. 415), or it may be agonistic.

Tetradrachms such as the above, with the horses in high action, resemble those struck at Syracuse after the final defeat of the Athenians, signed by the artists Kimon, Euainetos, &c.

Head of young Herakles in lion-skin; symbol, astragalos. [Hill, Sicily, Pl. VII. 6.]	ΓΕΛΩΙΩΝ Bearded human head of River Gelas crowned with corn. AR Litra.
Head of young river-god with loose hair. Behind, corn-grain.	ΓΕΛΑΣ River Gelas as a bull walk- ing with head lowered. Mark of value, ••• Trias, Æ .65
ΓΕΛΑΣ Head of young Gelas horned and bound with taenia.	Bull with lowered head. Mark of value, ••• Trias, Æ .75
Wheel of four spokes, between which, four corn-grains.	ΓΕΛΑΣ Id. ••• Trias, Æ .75 [Hunter Cat., I. 184, 20.]
Head of young Gelas with floating hair; symbol, corn-grain.	ΓΕΛΑΣ Bull Gelas as on Trias. Mark of value, • Uncia, Æ .45
Head of bearded Herakles.	ΓΕΛΩΙΩΝ Bearded human head of river Gelas crowned with corn. Æ .65-.45
ΓΕΛΩΙΩΝ Head of Demeter facing, crowned with corn.	Similar head of Gelas. Æ .55

The corn-wreath and corn-grain which so often appear in conjunction with the head of the river-god sufficiently indicate that to his beneficent influence the Geloans attributed the extraordinary fertility of their plains. Even now the upper course of the Terranova is rich in woods, vineyards, and corn-fields.

After an interval of more than half a century, during which the prosperity of Gela was at a very low ebb (for it never recovered from the ruin inflicted by the Carthaginians), it was recolonized in B.C. 338, and from this date until the time of Agathocles the town appears to have regained to some extent its ancient prosperity, although it never again struck large silver coins.

ΓΕΛΑΣ Head of bearded Gelas horned. [Gardner, Types, Pl. VI. 38.]	Free horse. AR Trihemiobol, wt. 16.2 grs.
ΕΥΝΟΜΙΑ Head of Demeter, hair in sphendone.	ΓΕΛΩΙΩΝ Bull on ear of corn. AR Diobol (?).

The epithet ΕΥΝΟΜΙΑ, here applied to the goddess Demeter, may be compared with that of ΥΓΙΕΙΑ on a coin of Metapontum (see above, p. 77).

Subsequently Phintias of Agrigentum, B.C. 287-279, removed the inhabitants of Gela to a new city called after himself, at the mouth of the river Himeras, midway between Gela and Agrigentum. Gela never- theless continued to exist, and struck bronze coins after the time of the Roman conquest.

Head of young river-god Gelas crowned with reeds.	ΓΕΛΩΙΩΝ Warrior slaughtering ram. Æ .85
Head of Demeter crowned with corn.	Ear of corn. Æ .75

Heraclea Minoa. For the Punic coins usually attributed to this mint see under Cephaloedium.

Herbessus. There were two towns of this name in Sicily, one in the Agrigentine territory, the other a Sikel town of more importance, a little to the west of Syracuse (Pantalica ?). It is to this last that the coins are usually attributed (Imhoof, Mon. gr., p. 20).

These coins belong to the latter part of the fourth century and are restruck over coins of Syracuse with the head of Zeus Eleutherios (rev. thunderbolt) or Athena (rev. star and dolphins).

»WW »SNG B »ANS

Himera (Termini), on the north coast of Sicily, was an ancient Chalcidic colony from Zancle, founded in the middle of the seventh century B.C. Its coinage has been studied by Gabrici, Topogr. e numismatica dell’ antica Imera e di Terme (Riv. Ital., 1894). Of its early history hardly any- thing is known. Its first coins, like those of Zancle and Naxus, follow the Aeginetic(?) standard (see p. 115).

»WW »SNG B »ANS

FIG. 75.

Cock (Fig. 75).	Flat incuse square containing eight triangular compartments, of which four are in relief. AR Drachm. wt. 90 grs. AR Obol, wt. 15 grs.
Cock. [Holm, Pl. I. 5.]	Hen in incuse square. AR Drachm.

These coins occasionally bear the inscr. ΗΙΜΕ, and sometimes the letters , ΤV, or V, which remain unexplained (N. C., 1898, pp. 190 ff.). The cock may be an emblem of a healing god and refer to the properties of the thermal springs near Himera. (Cf. the coins of Selinus, on which the cock as an adjunct symbol probably has a similar signification.) This bird, as the herald of the dawn of day, is thought by Eckhel to contain an allusion to the name of the town, Ιμερα, an old form of ημερα (Plato, Cratyl. 74; Plutarch, De Pyth. Orac. xii), but this is a very doubtful derivation.

Before B.C. 480 Theron of Agrigentum made himself master of Himera, and in that year, with the help of Gelon, gained a great victory over the Carthaginians, who had blockaded him in the town. Theron and his son Thrasydaeus for some years after this exercised undisputed sway over Himera, and reinforced its population with a Doric colony. At the same time the old Chalcidic (Aeginetic ?) coinage was abolished, and money of Attic weight introduced, on which the crab was adopted for the reverse type as a badge of Agrigentine dominion.

ΗΙΜΕRΑ Cock.	Crab. AR Didr. 135 grs. AR Dr. 65 grs.
Cock. [Holm, Pl. II. 16.]	ΗΙΜΕRΑΙΟΝ Astragalos AR Dr. 65 grs.
Astragalos.	•• AR Hexas 1.2 grs.

The astragalos as a religious symbol may refer to the practice pf consulting oracles by the throwing of αστραγαλοι (Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. iv. 337).

Theron died in B.C. 472, and soon afterwards his son Thrasydaeus was expelled. From this time until B.C. 408, the date of the destruction of the town by the Carthaginians, Himera appears to have enjoyed an interval of uninterrupted prosperity.

ΙΜΕRΑ (retrog.) Nymph Himera standing facing, wearing chiton and ample peplos. [Imhoof, Mon. gr., Pl. B, 3.]

ΠΕΛΟΨ Pelops driving chariot, horses walking; in ex. palm-branch with bunch of dates. AR Tetradr.

FIG. 76.

ΙΜΕΡΑΙΟΝ (retrogr.) Victorious quad- riga of walking horses (Fig. 76). [Evans, Syr. ‘Medallions', p. 173.]

Nymph Himera sacrificing at an altar; behind her is a small Seilenos washing himself in a stream of water which falls upon him from a fountain in the form of a lion’s head; on one specimen, on the altar, artist’s signa- ture ΚΙΜΟΝ ?. AR Tetradr.

The worship of Kronos at Himera is proved by a coin of the next period; that of Pelops, whom Pindar calls Κρονιος (Ol. iii. 41), falls perhaps into the same cycle. The presence of Pelops on a Himeraean coin might also be explained as referring to the Olympic victory gained by Ergoteles of Himera in B.C. 472 (Pind. Ol. xii), for Pelops was especially revered as the restorer of the Olympic festival.

ΙΜΕΡΑΙΟΝ Naked horseman riding sideways, about to spring from gal- loping horse. [Gardner, Types, Pl. II. 38.]

ΣΟΤΕΡ (retrogr.) and later ΣΟΤΗΡ Nymph Himera sacrificing; in field caduceus and corn-grain. AR Didr.

On the supposed inscription ΙΑΤΟΝ on these coins see N. C., 1898, pp. 190 ff.

ΗΙΜΕΡΑΙΟΝ Naked youth riding on a goat and holding a shell, buccinum, which he blows.	ΝΙΚΑ Nike flying, holding aplustre. AR ½ Dr.
Monster with bearded human head, goat’s horn, lion’s paw, and curled wing.	ΗΙΜΕΡΑΙΟΝ Naked youth on goat. AR Litra.
[Κ]ΙΜΑRΟ? (retrogr.) Female head. [N. Z., 1886, Pl. VI. 7.]	Forepart of boar; four grains of corn. AR Litra.
Bearded helmeted head.	ΙΜΕΡΑΙΟΝ Two greaves. AR Obol.
Bearded head.	⊟ΙΜΕ Helmet. AR Obol.

Quadriga, horses in high action; above, Nike holding a tablet with the artist's name ΜΑΙ...; in ex., hippocamp.

Nymph Himera Sacrificing at altar; behind her, Seilenos washing at foun- tain. AR Tetradr.

[Gardner, Types, Pl. VI. 2.]

ΚΡΟΝΟΣ Bearded head of Kronos bound with taenia. [Imhoof, Mon. gr., Pl. B. 4.]	ΙΜΕΡΑΙΩΝ fulmen between two corn-grains. AR Litra.
ΙΜΕΡΑΙΩΝ Head of young Herakles in lion-skin.	Athena standing facing, with shield and spear. AR Obol or Litra.
Boar. [N. Z., 1886, Pl. VI. 8.]	Female figure pouring water over lion's head. AR Litra.

Kronos was revered as an ancient king of Sicily at various places in the island, one of which was probably at or near Himera (Diod. iii. 6).

The earlier bronze coins of Himera fall into two distinct series:—

Of the above series of bronze coins the first (α), judging from the tetras, yields a litra of 990 grs., while the second (β), judging from the trias, only yields one of about 220 grs. At Agrigentum during the same period the litra appears to fall only from 750 to 613 grs., and there even in the latter half of the fourth century it stands as high as 536 grs.

In the face of such contradictory evidence it is hazardous to draw any conclusions from the weights of the bronze coins as