Dilitron

Messana's gold coinage of the mid-fifth century is exceptionally rare, produced during a period when the city was reasserting itself following the forced repatriation of the Zanklean population and the resettlement of Messenian refugees from the Peloponnese — a demographic upheaval engineered by Anaxilas and continued under his sons. Gold issues from this mint in this period are thought to reflect emergency or prestige striking rather than routine commerce, which explains why so few specimens are known.