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Hemidrachm
| Issuer | Naxos (Sicily) |
|---|---|
| Year | 415 BC - 403 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 13 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | Silenos depicted nude and ithyphallic, squatting in a three-quarter facing pose turned slightly to the right with his head turned back to the left, seated upon rocky ground. In his raised right hand he holds a kantharos lifted over his shoulder, while his left arm is extended forward holding a double aulos (pair of pipes). The figure is rendered with robust, rustic naturalism typical of Dionysiac iconography on Sicilian coinage of this period. The partial legend NAΞI-Ω appears in the field, abbreviating the ethnic of Naxos. |
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| Additional information |
Naxos was the oldest Greek colony in Sicily, founded around 734 BC, and its final coinage was struck under circumstances of catastrophe. In 403 BC, the Sikeliot tyrant Dionysios I of Syracuse razed the city entirely, selling its population into slavery and distributing the land to Sikel allies. The coins minted in the years just before that destruction are among the last artifacts of a civic identity that was simply erased. No resettlement, no gradual decline — just an abrupt end.
The date range opens at 415 BC, the year Athens launched its disastrous Sicilian Expedition, in which Naxos was one of the few Sicilian cities to side with the invaders.