12 Litrai - Fifth Democracy

Syracuse's Fifth Democracy was a short-lived experiment in self-governance squeezed between the death of Hieronymus in 214 BC and the city's fall to Marcellus in 212 BC — a two-year window during which the city threw off its monarchy, executed the royal family, and attempted to hold the line against Rome while nominally allied with Carthage. Coins of this period were struck under acute military pressure, with Marcellus already camped outside the walls for much of the issue's lifespan.

Archimedes died during the Roman sack that ended this democracy and this coinage simultaneously.