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Dekadrachm - Hiketas II
| Issuer | Syracuse |
|---|---|
| Year | 287 BC - 278 BC |
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| Currency | Litra |
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| Obverse description | Facing left, the veiled head of Persephone wearing a wreath of grain ears, a pendant earring, and a pearl necklace. A cornucopiae appears behind the neck in the left field. The legend ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ curves around the design in Greek characters. The portraiture reflects the refined Syracusan engraving tradition of the early third century BC. |
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| Reverse description | Nike, depicted as a charioteer, drives a biga at full gallop to the right, holding a goad in her raised right hand and the reins in her lowered left hand. A thunderbolt appears in the upper field above the horses, while an ear of grain is placed in the lower field beneath the biga. The magistrate's legend ΕΠΙ ΙΚΕΤΑ appears in the field, identifying the issue to the tenure of Hiketas II. The composition is energetic and characteristic of the vigorous Syracusan reverse types of this period. |
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| Additional information |
Hiketas II came to power in Syracuse through political murder and ruled during one of the most turbulent decades in Sicilian history, navigating threats from Carthage, Agathocles' successor factions, and eventually the Mamertines. This gold issue belongs to a narrow window before the city's appeal to Pyrrhus of Epirus in 278 BC fundamentally altered the western Greek world. The denomination itself — struck in gold rather than the silver dekadrachm tradition Syracuse is famous for — signals emergency financing rather than ceremonial production.
The De Luynes reference places this among a tightly documented group; the collection's dispersal through the Bibliothèque nationale gives the pedigree unusual traceability for a coin of this age.