Nomos AG, 9
SICILY, Morgantina. Circa 339/8-317 BC. Æ Hemidrachm (25mm, 18.10 g, 9h). MOPΓANTINΩN, head of Athena right, wearing triple-crested Attic helmet decorated with serpents; behind neck guard, owl standing right, head facing / Lion standing right, devouring stag’s head; Γ above, coiled serpent below. Erim & Jaunzems issue 6, 1 (O1/R1); Castrizio series I, 2; CNS 2; Rizzo pl. LX, 7; Basel 375; SNG Morcom 640; SNG ANS -; SNG Lloyd -; BMC 7-8 (same dies); McClean 2454 (same dies). EF, dark green patina with light earthen highlights. Exceptional strike and centering for issue.
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 7 (2 March 1994), lot 192.
Morgantina was founded by Chalcidean colonists in the early-mid sixth century BC, although the site appears to have been inhabited by natives from prehistoric times. In the mid-late fifth century, the city fell under Syracusan and then Kamarinan control. Dionysios I reconquered the city in 396 BC, and Morgantina allied itself with Timoleon after the victory at Adranon in 344. At the beginning of the Second Punic War, the Romans garrisoned the city, but it later fell to the Carthaginians. Punic mercenaries from Iberia and Libya were stationed there in 212 and 211 BC, but the city was eventually retaken by the Romans, who maintained control of Morgantina until it ceased to exist during the Empire.
