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Dekadrachm - Dionysios I
| Issuer | Syracuse |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 390 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Decadrachm (50) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | A racing quadriga driven to the left, with the charioteer holding the reins in his left hand and a kentron (goad) in his right; above, Nike flies rightward to crown him with a wreath. In the exergue, a display of military arms — comprising an aspis (round shield), greaves, cuirass, and crested Attic helmet, all joined by a horizontal spear — appears beneath the Greek inscription ΑΘΛΑ ('prizes'), referencing the chariot-race prizes at the Panhellenic games. The composition is framed by a dotted border, and the rendering exemplifies the finest tradition of late fifth- to early fourth-century Syracusan die-engraving. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (400 BC - 390 BC) |
| Additional information |
The large silver dekadrachms of Dionysios I were not general circulation coinage — at 43 grams, they were functionally impractical for daily trade. The prevailing view is that they served as donatives or prize money, possibly connected to the Assinarian Games established after Syracuse's catastrophic defeat of the Athenian expedition in 413 BC, or as military pay disbursements during Dionysios's protracted wars against Carthage in the 390s.
The engravers responsible for this series — almost certainly working within the tradition established by Kimon and Euainetos in the preceding generation — signed their dies, a Syracusan practice that makes individual hands traceable across the surviving corpus.