Dichalkon

Catane's bronze coinage of this period was struck under the shadow of the Second Punic War, during which the city — along with much of Sicily — became a contested prize between Carthaginian and Roman spheres of influence. Rome consolidated control over the island following the fall of Syracuse in 212 BC, and civic bronze issues like this one reflect the uneasy continuation of local monetary tradition under increasing Roman pressure. The dichalkon denomination itself belongs to a Greek fractional system that Rome made no immediate effort to suppress, allowing Sicilian poleis to maintain nominally independent coinage for decades after annexation.