Æ - Fifth Democracy

Syracuse fell to Rome in 212 BC after a two-year siege made famous by the defensive siege engines designed by Archimedes, who was killed when the city was finally taken. This bronze issue belongs to the last phase of Syracusan civic independence — the so-called Fifth Democracy that briefly governed after the death of Hieronymus in 214 BC. The city's mint continued producing through the siege itself, making late examples potentially among the final coins struck before Roman forces under Marcellus breached the walls.