Didrachm - The Gamoroi

Syracuse's earliest silver coinage emerged under the Gamoroi — the landowning aristocracy who dominated the city's political structure until their expulsion by a democratic revolt around 491 BC. That uprising, led by the Killichirioi (the lower classes and freed slaves), drove the Gamoroi into exile at Kasmenai before Gelon of Gela restored them to power, an event that ultimately set the stage for his own takeover of Syracuse in 485 BC.

Boehringer's die study remains the foundational reference for sequencing this early Syracusan series, placing this type among the first organised coinage of the western Greek world.