Hemistater - Pyrrhus of Epirus

Pyrrhus arrived in Syracuse in 278 BC at the invitation of the Syracusans, who were under simultaneous pressure from Carthage and internal dynastic instability following the death of Agathocles. He was proclaimed king of Sicily almost immediately and set about reorganizing the island's defenses with characteristic aggression, pushing Carthaginian forces back to their last stronghold at Lilybaeum. These gold hemistaters belong to that brief window of Epirote control over the Syracusan mint — ended not by military defeat but by the city's own factions turning against him, forcing his return to mainland Greece in 276 BC.