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2 Litrai - Timoleon / Third Democracy
| Issuer | Syracuse |
|---|---|
| Year | 344 BC - 317 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Janiform female head depicted facing left and right simultaneously, the two busts conjoined at the back and separated by a central vertical band, all rendered in fine archaic Greek style. Both faces are wreathed with laurel or olive leaves, visible at the crown of the shared headpiece. The ethnic legend ΣYRAKOΣ–IΩN is distributed across the field to the left and right of the janiform heads. A single dolphin appears in the right field, a traditional Syracusan symbol alluding to the city's maritime identity. The entire design is enclosed within a finely beaded border. |
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| Reverse description | A horse prancing vigorously to the right, rendered with naturalistic musculature and raised forelegs in a spirited posture characteristic of Sicilian coinage of the period. An eight-rayed star appears prominently in the upper field above the horse, serving as a divine or celestial symbol commonly associated with Syracusan issues of the Timoleontic era. The field is otherwise plain, and the design is contained within a beaded border. No legend is present on the reverse. The flan is irregular in shape, consistent with hand-struck silver coinage of this period. |
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| Additional information |
Timoleon arrived in Syracuse in 344 BC not as a ruler but as a liberator — sent by Corinth to dismantle the tyranny of Dionysius II and restore republican governance. He succeeded, and the coins struck under the resulting Third Democracy reflect that ideological break: Syracuse minting silver in its own civic name rather than under a dynast's authority. Timoleon himself refused personal honors and retired to a farm outside the city before his death around 337 BC, leaving the democracy he enabled to produce coinage for another two decades.