The Early Coinage of Syracuse
Pedigreed to the De Ciccio Collection in 1907
SICILY, Syracuse. The Gamoroi. Circa 500-490/86 BC. AR Tetradrachm (24.5mm, 17.17 g, 3h). Charioteer, holding reins in both hands, driving slow quadriga right; SVRA above / Head of Arethousa left in incuse circle in center of quadripartite incuse square. Boehringer Series I, 31.3 (V22/R15 – this coin); HGC 2, 1302; SNG ANS 5 (same obv. die); Hunterian 1 (same dies); Pozzi 547 (same dies); Rizzo pl. XXXIV, 1–2; Sartiges 120 (same obv. die). Good VF, attractive old cabinet toning. Great metal.
From the JP Collection. Ex Vinchon (13 April 1985), lot 112; Giuseppe De Ciccio Collection (Sambon & Canessa, 19 December 1907), lot 285.
Syracuse was the dominant Greek state in Sicily from early in the 5th century until its capture and sack by the Romans in 211 BC. A Corinthian foundation on the east coast of the island dating from circa 734 BC, it did not play a leading role in Sicilian politics prior to its capture in 485 by Gelon, tyrant of Gela. Gelon transferred his seat of government there and he and Hieron I, his brother and successor, laid the foundations for the future greatness of Syracuse. The defeat of the Carthaginian invaders of Sicily in 480 BC, in which Gelon played a leading role, marked a turning-point in the history of the western Mediterranean area, just as the Athenian victory over the Persian invaders of Greece in the same year was to have far-reaching consequences in the Aegean world. Gelon died in 478 but his aggressive policies were continued by Hieron whose court also became a cultural center of some note. On the tyrant's death in 467/6 BC a democratic government was instituted in Syracuse.
