12 Litrai - Fifth Democracy

Syracuse's Fifth Democracy was not built to last. These litrai were struck in the final years of an independent Syracuse, as the city lurched between Roman and Carthaginian pressure following the death of Hiero II in 215 BC. The pro-Carthaginian faction prevailed politically, pulling Syracuse into the Second Punic War on the wrong side — a decision that brought Marcellus and his legions to the walls in 214 BC.

The siege lasted two years and ended in 212 BC with the city's sack. Archimedes died in that assault. Coinage of the Fifth Democracy thus has a hard terminus: nothing was struck after the Romans took the mint.