6 Litrai - Fifth Democracy

Syracuse's Fifth Democracy lasted barely two years before Rome ended it permanently in 212 BC, following a siege that killed Archimedes. These coins were struck under existential military pressure, with Roman forces under Marcellus encircling the city from 214 BC onward. The Syracusans held out partly due to war machines Archimedes engineered for the defense — the coinage of this period is literally concurrent with that siege.

SNG Copenhagen 881 is the standard reference anchor for this type. Survivors are scarce; the city's fall and subsequent Roman plundering left little occasion for hoarding.