Litra

Messana's silver litrai from this period fall squarely within the First Carthaginian War's destabilizing shadow over northeastern Sicily. The city had been refounded by Anaxilas around 488 BC after the expulsion of the Zanclaeans, and by the early fourth century it retained enough autonomous monetary output to issue small silver denominations independently — a capacity many Sicilian cities lost entirely during Carthaginian incursions after 409 BC. The litra, as the native Sicilian weight standard, predates the Attic system's dominance and reflects an indigenous monetary tradition that Greek colonists absorbed rather than replaced.

Caltabiano 638 is a scarce variety within an already thinly documented series.