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Hemilitron
| Issuer | Lipara |
|---|---|
| Year | 412 BC - 408 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Hephaistos seated left on a throne or rocky outcrop, depicted as a semi-nude male figure wearing a conical pilos helmet, his body turned slightly toward the viewer. The god holds a pair of tongs in his lowered right hand, with an anvil or workshop implement visible at his feet, alluding to his role as divine smith and patron deity of the volcanic Aeolian islands. The figure is rendered in a bold, archaic style characteristic of western Greek bronzework of the late fifth century BC, with strong modeling of the torso and limbs. A kantharos or cup appears to the right of the figure. The field is otherwise plain, with no legend. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Six spokes radiating from a central cluster of six pellets arranged in two rows of three, forming a wheel or star pattern that fills the coin's field. The Greek ethnic legend ΛΙΠΑΡΑΙΟΝ is distributed between the spokes around the central device, with individual letters occupying the spaces between each ray. The pellets serve as the denomination mark for the hemilitron, equivalent to six units on the Sicilian bronze standard. The overall composition is bold and symmetrical, rendered in the characteristic graphic style of Liparean bronze coinage of the early fourth century BC. |
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| Additional information |
Lipara — the largest of the Aeolian Islands off Sicily's northern coast — was a Cnidian colony that maintained an unusual degree of independence during a period when Syracuse dominated much of Sicilian coinage. This hemilitron dates to the years immediately surrounding Athens' catastrophic Sicilian Expedition, a defeat so complete that it effectively ended Athenian imperial ambitions in the western Mediterranean. Lipara itself had strategic value as a naval waystation and was periodically contested, yet continued striking its own bronze through the disruption.