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| Issuer | Tyndaris (Sicily) |
|---|---|
| Year | 214 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Laureate male head in right profile, likely representing Zeus or Apollo, rendered in a sturdy Sicilian Greek style. The hair falls in thick, wavy locks behind the neck, and the facial features are boldly modeled with a pronounced brow and strong jaw. The flan is slightly irregular and the patina is a deep green consistent with long burial. No legend is present on the obverse. |
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| Reverse description | The Dioskouroi caps (pilei), symbols of Castor and Pollux, depicted as two conical helmets surmounted by stars, centrally placed and flanked by the projecting stars above each cap. Below the caps, the civic legend TYNΔAPITAN is inscribed in Greek characters, identifying the issuing community of Tyndaris. The composition is compact and emblematic, characteristic of Sicilian civic bronze coinage of the Hellenistic period. |
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| Additional information |
Tyndaris was founded in 396 BC by Dionysius I of Syracuse as a military colony, populated largely by Messenian refugees and Syracusan settlers — a politically calculated move to anchor the northern Sicilian coast against Carthaginian pressure. By 214 BC the city found itself caught in the catastrophic realignment triggered by Hannibal's victories in Italy, as Sicilian poleis scrambled to choose between Rome and Carthage following the disaster at Lake Trasimene. This issue almost certainly belongs to that volatile window before Rome reasserted control over the island.