12 Litrai - Fifth Democracy

Struck during the final, desperate years of Syracuse's independence, this issue belongs to the so-called Fifth Democracy — the civic government that took power after the death of Hieronymus in 214 BC and immediately sought alliance with Carthage against Rome. The coins of this brief period were minted under siege conditions, as Marcellus's legions and fleet closed around the city from 214 BC onward. Syracuse fell in 212 BC, absorbed into the Roman province of Sicily, ending over three centuries of autonomous Syracusan coinage.

The Burnett, Enna classification isolates specific die groupings within this type that help establish a rough chronology for the emission sequence during the siege.