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Litra
| Issuer | Messana |
|---|---|
| Year | 420 BC - 413 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Litra |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΜΕΣ |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Messana's silver litrai of this period were struck under conditions of acute political instability — the city had been refounded by Anaxilas of Rhegion in 488 BC after he expelled the original Zanclaean population, and the decades following his death saw repeated factional conflict over control of the mint. The window between 420 and 413 BC places this issue in the years immediately preceding the Athenian expedition against Syracuse, when Sicilian Greek cities were recalibrating alliances at speed.
The litra itself was the foundational silver denomination of Sicilian weight standards, distinct from the Attic system dominant elsewhere in the Greek world.