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Litra
| Issuer | Messana |
|---|---|
| Year | 412 BC - 408 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | 13.5 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The retrograde ethnic inscription ΜΕΣ, an abbreviation for Messana, is displayed in bold Greek letters at the center of the field, reading from right to left as was occasionally employed in archaic and early classical Sicilian coinage. The legend is enclosed within a neatly rendered olive wreath, its branches tied at the right with a ribbon, the individual leaves rendered in a stylized but naturalistic manner. The wreath occupies the full available field, its robust execution being a hallmark of Messanan silver coinage of this period. |
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| Additional information |
Messana's coinage of this period reflects the city's precarious position during the closing decades of the Peloponnesian War. The city had been refounded in 396 BC — wait. The dates here fall well before that refounding, placing this litra within the original Zanclaean-Messanian civic tradition, before the Carthaginian destruction of 396 BC erased the city entirely and Dionysius I resettled it with Locrians and mercenaries.
The litra denomination was the standard Sicilian bronze-weight unit translated into silver, peculiar to the island's monetary conventions and not found in mainland Greek series.