Exceptional Quality Akragas
SICILY, Akragas. Circa 460-450/46 BC. AR Tetradrachm (24mm, 17.30 g, 5h). Sea eagle standing left; AKRAC-AИTOΣ around / Crab; floral design below; all within shallow incuse circle. Lee Group II; HGC 2, 79; SNG ANS 983 (same dies); SNG Lloyd –; Basel –; Dewing –; Gulbenkian –; Rizzo pl. I, 6/12 (for obv./rev. dies). EF, underlying luster, lightly toned.
Akragas, Roman Agrigentum, was situated close to the southern coastline of Sicily midway between Gela and Selinos. Founded by colonists from Gela circa 580 BC, Akragas grew to become the second most important city on the island after Syracuse, deriving much of its wealth from the export of agricultural produce to Carthage which lay about 200 miles to the west. Its coinage commenced in the closing years of the 6th century and consisted in the main of silver didrachms down to about 472 BC, after which the tetradrachm became the principal denomination. The types down to circa 420 comprised a stationary eagle on the obverse and a crab on the reverse, presumably symbolic of land and sea. Thereafter, the designs became more complex with one or two eagles shown devouring a hare and a galloping quadriga ultimately replacing the crab. In the final decade of the 5th century, Akragas suffered the same fate as many of the other Greek cities of Sicily when it was stormed and sacked by the invading Carthaginians (406 BC).
