Dekadrachm - Dionysios I

The great Syracusan dekadrachms of this period were not routine civic coinage — they were almost certainly struck to pay mercenaries. Dionysios I fought a grinding series of wars against Carthage beginning in 409 BC, and the logistical demands of maintaining a professional mercenary force required exactly this kind of high-denomination, high-weight silver payment. The coins functioned more as bullion instruments than pocket change.

The engravers responsible for the finest examples — Kimon and Euainetos chief among them — signed their work on the dies, an almost unprecedented practice in the ancient world and one that speaks to how differently Syracuse valued its mint artists.