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15 Litrai - Hicetas II
| Issuer | Syracuse |
|---|---|
| Year | 287 BC - 278 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Reverse description | Nike, depicted as a charioteer (auriga), drives a fast quadriga at full gallop to the left; she extends her right hand holding a kentron (goad) while her left hand grasps the reins. A star of eight rays appears above in the upper field. The ethnic legend ΣYPAKOΣIΩN is inscribed in the exergue, identifying the coin as an issue of the Syracusans. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΣYPAKOΣIΩN |
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| Additional information |
Hicetas II seized power in Syracuse around 288 BC after the collapse of Agathocles' dynasty, ruling as a strategos rather than king — a careful political distinction that shaped the city's coinage policy during his tenure. The 15 litrai denomination places this piece within a weight standard calibrated against the Syracusan litra system rather than the Attic didrachm, a deliberate choice that maintained local monetary identity during a period of sustained pressure from Carthaginian forces in western Sicily.
Hicetas was ultimately executed by the Syracusans themselves in 278 BC, the same year Pyrrhus of Epirus arrived in Sicily, rendering this entire coinage series confined to roughly a decade of turbulent civic history.