Catalog
12 Litrai - Fifth Democracy
| Issuer | Syracuse (Sicily) |
|---|---|
| Year | 214 BC - 212 BC |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | Full-length figure of Artemis (or a female archer) standing facing right, drawing a strung bow in a dynamic shooting stance; she wears a short chiton, boots, and a diadem in her hair. At her feet lies what appears to be a fallen animal or game. The ethnic legend ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ is inscribed vertically along the right field, with the monogram ΛΥ to the right, identifying the civic authority of Syracuse. |
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| Additional information |
Syracuse's Fifth Democracy was the city's last gasp of self-governance before Rome ended it permanently. These coins were struck during the siege of 214–212 BC, when a Roman army under Marcellus encircled the city following Syracuse's catastrophic decision to abandon its Roman alliance after the disaster at Cannae. The siege lasted nearly three years partly because of Archimedes, whose war machines repeatedly repelled Roman naval assaults — an unusual case where a mathematician measurably prolonged a city's survival.
Coinage of this democracy is rare precisely because the mint's productive life was so short. Marcellus took the city in 212 BC.