100 Litrai - Dionysios I

Dionysios I seized power in Syracuse in 405 BC amid the catastrophe of the Carthaginian invasion, which had just destroyed Akragas and Gela. This gold issue belongs to that emergency period, when Syracuse needed to pay mercenaries — Campanians, Iberians, and others — who would not accept promises. The 100 litrai denomination placed it firmly within a weight standard designed to interface with non-Greek monetary systems, making it functional military currency as much as civic coinage.

Syracuse had no established tradition of gold coinage before this crisis. That is precisely why these pieces are rare.