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Hemilitra
| Issuer | Himera |
|---|---|
| Year | 420 BC - 407 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Facing head of the nymph Himera rendered in three-quarter view, her hair loosely arranged beneath a taenia or diadem, with undulating locks radiating symmetrically around the face. The facial features are rendered with characteristic late Classical Sicilian artistry, displaying almond-shaped eyes, a straight nose, and slightly parted lips. The portrait fills the flan, with the flowing hair reaching nearly to the coin's irregular edge. No inscriptions appear on the obverse field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A tunny fish (tuna) depicted horizontally across the center of the flan, facing right, rendered with careful attention to anatomical detail including fins and body musculature. Above the fish appears a row of six pellets arranged in a horizontal line, serving as value marks denoting the hemilitron denomination. Below the fish, the abbreviated ethnic legend IME is inscribed in Greek characters, identifying the issuing city of Himera. The composition is simple and bold, consistent with the civic bronze coinage of late fifth-century BC Sicily. |
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| Additional information |
Himera's bronze coinage from this period carries a particular weight beyond its small denomination. The city was destroyed in 407 BC by Carthaginian forces under Hannibal Mago — a deliberate act of revenge for the Carthaginian defeat at the Battle of Himera in 480 BC, a humiliation that had festered for three generations. Survivors were reportedly massacred at the site of that earlier battle. Coins struck in the final years before that destruction are, by definition, among the last objects produced by a city that ceased to exist.