|
SICILY, Messana. The Mamertinoi. 264-241 BC. Æ (28mm, 17.45 g, 6h). Laureate head of Ares right; arrowhead to left / Eagle standing left on thunderbolt, wings spread. Särström Series III, Group A, 55 (same obv. die); BAR Issue 5; CNS 7; HGC 2, 865. Lovely turquoise patina, some brown encrustation. Good VF.
The Mamertinoi started as a band of hardy Italian mercenaries from Campania who hired themselves out to various Sicilian strongmen during the war-torn fourth century BC. Agathokles, tyrant of Syracuse and self-proclaimed King of Sicily, made use of the Campanians in his war against Carthage starting in 311 BC. When the war ended inconclusively in 307 BC, the mercenaries were left idle and went rogue, plundering the hinterlands of Sicily. Around this time they named themselves Mamertinoi after the Oscan god Mamers, a local version of Ares-Mars. Circa 288 BC, they infiltrated and seized control of Messana, located at the strategic straits separating Sicily and Italy. Using this former mercantile city as a raiding base, they plundered far and wide, making a violent nuisance of themselves. In 270 BC, the Syracusan tyrant Hieron II dealt them a heavy defeat but failed to dislodge them from Messana. When Hieron besieged Messana in 265 BC, the Mamertinoi first appealed to Carthage for help, but soon chafed at Carthaginian demands and turned instead to the rising mainland power of Rome. Thus the Mamertinoi unwittingly played a key role in sparking the 23-year-long First Punic War between Rome and Carthage, likely the most destructive war in history up to that point. The first issues of Mamertine coinage, all in bronze, coincide with the onset of this war, using types derived from other Sicilian cities. A youthful head of Ares (or more properly Mamers?) occupies the obverse of this, the largest denomination, with the familiar Macedonian emblem of an eagle standing on a thunderbolt depicted on the reverse. The Mamertinoi remained Roman allies for the duration of the war but soon faded from history as a fighting force and settled down to become wealthy landlords and vintners; Mamertine wine remained highly prized in following centuries.
The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 129 lots will be determined during the live online sale that will be held on 13-14 May 2025. This lot is in Session One, which will begin 13 May at 9 AM ET.
Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.
We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.
|
