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16 Litrai - Philistis
| Issuer | Syracuse |
|---|---|
| Year | 218 BC - 214 BC |
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| Value | 16 Litrai |
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| Obverse description | Diademed and veiled bust of Queen Philistis facing left, rendered in fine high relief with delicate naturalistic modeling characteristic of Syracusan die-cutting at its peak. The veil falls in sweeping folds behind the head, partially obscuring a long torch visible in the field to the rear. The hair is arranged in tight waves beneath the diadem, with a small pendant earring discernible at the lobe. The portrait displays the refined Hellenistic style associated with the court of Hieron II, conveying regal dignity without legend on the obverse. |
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| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Philistis was the wife of Hieron II, whose nearly fifty-year reign over Syracuse represented one of the longest and most stable periods of autonomous rule in the Greek West. These silver litrai were struck in her name during the final years of that arrangement — Hieron died in 215 BC, and the city's subsequent alliance shift toward Carthage and away from Rome brought a Roman siege under Marcellus that ended Syracusan independence by 212 BC. Coins bearing her name were almost certainly no longer being produced by then.
The denomination itself — sixteen litrai — reflects the hybrid monetary accounting of Sicily, where Greek litra-based reckoning was mapped onto heavier Hellenistic weight standards.