Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/697

Rh SICILY.] NUMISMATICS 639 signed tetradrachms. The tyrant, defeated at Olympia by a com bination, seems to commemorate on these coins the victory he could have won, and this explanation appears to be confirmed by such indications, never all combined, as the fallen turning -post, the broken rein, and the affrighted charioteer. The Dionysian dynasty closed in nine years of anarchy, until Syracuse appealed to Corinth, and Timoleon was sent to restore order (344 B.C.). The triumph of this public-spirited statesman is witnessed by various changes in the coinage. The chief silver piece is now a didrachm of Corinthian type, corresponding in weight to the tridraclun of Corinth, and with the same types, the head of Pallas and the Pegasus ; the smaller coins present some Corinthian subjects. The democracy was over thrown in 317 B.C. and the city seized by Agathocles (317-289 B.C.), the worst of the tyrants of Syracuse. In the course of his reign he adopted the royal style, and his coins, a reflexion of earlier work, give his name first without and then with the title king, a double innovation. The tyrant Hicetas (287-278 B.C.), and the next ruler, Pyrrhus king of Epirus (278-276 B.C.), continue the coinage, Pyrrhus issuing money in the name of the Syracusans and also striking his own pieces. The departure of Pyrrhus led to the establishment by a native, the second Hieron, of a dynasty which, so long as he ruled (276-216 B.C.), restored the ancient prosperity and preponderance of the rule of his namesake. At first content with inscribing his name alone, he soon not only takes the title of king, conferred on him in the early years of his reign, but also places his portrait on the money. Of his time is the beautiful portrait of Queen Philistis, supposed to be his consort. The heads have merit, but the reverse has become merely heraldic. The money of the short reign of Hieronymus (216-215 B.C.) and of the brief democracy which fell before the Romans (215-212 B.C.) close the independent series of this great city. But her name still appears in bronze money issued after the conquest. Taking the rest of the money of Sicily in alphabetical order, we first note a very fine bronze coin bearing a beautiful female head, perhaps that of Sicilia, crowned with myrtle, and a lyre, the date of which is later than Timoleon s Syracusan issues, on one of which it is restruck. This coin is conjecturally attributed to Adranum. ^Etna, better known as Catana, is represented by a unique tetradrachm, with a wonderful head of Silenus, and Zeus as the god of the volcano hard by enthroned and hurling a thunder bolt. The first great town is Agrigentum, represented by archaic, transitional, and fine coins, the fine series ending with the over throw of the city by the Carthaginians in 406 B.C., a blow from which it never recovered. The usual types are the eagle and the crab, but in the age of finest art we see two eagles devouring a hare, and a victorious chariot ; these occur in the rare decadrachm and the tetradrachms. The eagle is superior to that of Croton, inferior to that of Elis. Is it a sea-eagle, while the Olympian bird is the golden eagle ? Many of the bronze coins are of good work. The type most worthy of note is the head of a river-god, with the name Acragas, which was that of the stream of the town, and on the reverse an eagle standing on an Ionic capital, the Olympic turning- post. The success of Agrigentum at the games is attested by Pindar, while Virgil (JLn., iii. 704), Gratius (C yneg., 526), and Silius Italicus mention its ancient renown for horses. The lofty site (arduus Acragas), overlooking the sea and on the bank of the stream of the same name, makes the eagles, the crab, and the river appropriate devices, showing that Greek types have a local fitness, while chosen with a religious intention. The money of Camarina is of especial beauty and interest. The fifth of Pindar s Olympic Odes, to Psaumis the Camarinfeau, affords an excellent commentary upon it. The earliest coin we know is a didrachm of about this time, whereas there are many pieces of from fifty to a hundred years earlier of most of the other important cities of Sicily. Camarina, however, was then but lately inhabited (V^OIKOV edpav), having been recently twice devastated by the Syracusans. This piece has on the obverse a helmet upon a round shield and on the reverse a pair of greaves, between which is a dwarf palm (Cham&rops humilis). The arms are those of some divinity or hero ; the palm may represent the sacred grove (&&amp;lt;ros ayvfo) in which the temple of the chief divinity probably stood. This piece is followed by tetradrachms and didrachms of the best period, most beautiful in style, and varying a little from difference of age. The tetradrachms bear on the obverse the head of Heracles in the lion s skin, and on the reverse Pallas as a victor at the Olympic games in a quadriga. It was Pallas, protector of the city (iroXidoxe IlaXXds), whose sacred grove was made more illustrious by the success of Psaumis. The didrachms have on the obverse the head of a river-god, portrayed as a young man with small horns and with wet hair. Of the two rivers of Camarina, the Oanus and the Hipparis, the Hipparis is here represented, for in one case the name is given on the coin. Pindar seems to show the same preference, for, while he merely mentions the Oanus (TroTaiJ.6v . . . &quot;tiavov), he speaks of the sacred channels by which the Hipparis watered the city (ffefj.vovs 6x&amp;lt;froi&amp;gt;s, &quot;IinrapLs olaiv (ipdfi. ffrparbv). On the reverse the nymph Camarina ( &Ka.vov dvyarep . . . Kapapiva) is seen carried across her lake (fyxupiav. . . ifj.vav) by a swan swimming with expanded wings, while she aids it by spreading her veil in the manner of a sail. Some of these didrachms have on either side, around the chief device, fresh-water fishes. The series of Catana comprises fine archaic tetradrachms and others of the time of the best art. The archaic tetradrachms have the types of a river in the form of a man-headed bull and of the figure of Nice. The head of Apollo succeeds, with for reverse the victorious quadriga, in one case passing the turning-post, an Ionic column. Gela is represented by coins of which the archaic tetradrachms must be especially mentioned. They have on the obverse the fore part of the river-god Gelas, whence the city took its name. The Gelas is represented as a bull, having the face of a bearded man. On the reverse is a victorious quadriga at the Olympic games, in some examples represented passing an Ionic column, as on coins of Catana. A tetradrachm of the later period of the age of good art has types of the head of the Gelas as a young man horned, surrounded by three fishes, and on the reverse Nice in a biga with a wreath above. The money of Himera is of great interest. The oldest didrachms of Himera, which probably began in the 6th century B.C., bear on the obverse a cock and on the reverse an incuse pattern. They are succeeded by transitional tetradrachms, which bear on the one side a victorious quadriga and on the other a nymph sacrificing, near whom a little Silenus stands under the stream of a fountain issuing from a lion s head in a wall. Leontini is represented by tetradrachms with the head of Apollo and the victorious car, which gives place to a lion s head. The series of Messene begins, when the town was called Zancle, or, as it is written upon the coins, Dancle, with early drachms or smaller pieces of the jEginetan weight, and of very archaic work. On the obverse is a dolphin, and around it a sickle, and on the reverse is a shell in the midst of an incuse pattern. The place is said to have received its name on account of the resemblance of the harbour to a sickle (dyKov or dyKr)). Next to these first coins of Zancle may be placed, as the oldest piece of the Attic weight, a tetradrachm with the Samian types, a lion s scalp on one side and on the other the head of a bull, and bearing the inscription ME22ENION. This coin was doubtless struck during the rule of the Samians, who took the place about 494 B.C., at the instigation of Anaxilaus tyrant of Rhegium, by whom they were subsequently expelled (Thucyd., vi. 4). The next pieces are the earliest of those which have on the obverse the mule-car and on the reverse a running hare, like the contemporary coins of Rhegium, with the same devices and equally of the rule of Anaxilaus. These types cease at Rhegium, though they continue at Messene, some of the tetradrachms bearing them being of the age of fine art. When the town had been seized by the Mamertini, money was struck with their name, thus borne by the later coins, which are of bronze. They are good, but not of the best style. Naxos is represented by handsome transitional tetra drachms and others of the fine period, and by smaller silver pieses, chiefly of the earlier time. There are some coins of the city of Panormus, but most of those which have been classed to it are of the Carthaginians, issued both in Sicily and in Africa. Nothing is more probable than that many of these pieces were struck at Panormus, but there is no sure means of distinguishing any such, and, if there were, the mere fact of their having been issued at the place would not justify us in classing them to it. Segesta is represented by coins of the archaic and of the good period. We first notice the head of the nymph Segesta and a hound, probably a river-god, then the same type for obverse associated with a young hunter accompanied by two hounds, a charming composition. Another interesting type is a victorious car driven by Persephone, who carries ears of corn. In the series of the city of Selinus tlie first coins are didrachms, bearing on the obverse a leaf and on the reverse an incuse square. The city and the river of the same name no doubt derived their name from the plant &amp;lt;r(ivoi&amp;gt;, the leaf of which must be here in tended. There is some difficulty as to its identification ; the plant sacred at Selinus appears to be, as Colonel Leake supposes, wild celery (Apium graveolens) ; but it does not follow that the &quot; selinon &quot; with which the victors at the Isthmian and Nemean games were crowned was really the same species. Tetradrachms and didrachms of transitional and of good art have devices of more than usual interest. The obverse exhibits a river-god, sometimes the Selinus, sometimes the Hypsas, sacrificing at the altar of ^Esculapius, while on the didrachm a wading-bird is sometimes seen behind him, as if departing. This subject appears to allude to the draining of the pestiferous marshes. The reverse of the tetradrachms generally shows a quadriga in which Apollo stands drawing his bow, while Artemis is charioteer. The reference must be equally to the driving away of the pestilence. We have still to mention the main characteristics of the true Siculo- Siculo-Punic coins, that is, those actually struck by the Cartha- Punic ginians in Sicily. A careful examination shows that the Punic money, money must be separated into three distinct divisions the coinage of the Carthaginians in Africa, in Sicily, and in Spain. The Sicilian coins are adjusted to the Attic talent, like those of the Greek cities of the island, and show Greek style modified by barbarian influence. The known towns are Solus, Motya, Panormus (?), and Heraclea