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Litra
| Issuer | Naxos (Sicily) |
|---|---|
| Year | 420 BC - 403 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Bearded head of Dionysos facing right, rendered in fine archaic-to-classical style with luxuriant wavy hair and a wreath of ivy leaves and berries crowning his brow. The fleshy, well-modelled features display the characteristic artistic refinement associated with the celebrated Naxian coinage of the late fifth century BC. The field is plain and unlettered, the design filling the flan with confident craftsmanship typical of Sicilian die-engraving of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (420 BC - 403 BC) |
| Additional information |
Naxos was the oldest Greek colony in Sicily, founded by Chalkidian settlers in 734 BC, and its coins reflect an artistic ambition that far outstripped the city's political weight. The polis was destroyed by Dionysios I of Syracuse in 403 BC — its population enslaved or dispersed, the city razed — which sets the hard terminus on this issue and makes every surviving piece a product of a mint that was permanently extinguished, not merely interrupted.
The litra denomination served local small-change needs in an economy where Sicilian Greek cities maintained weight standards distinct from the Attic system. This type's die work, even at this tiny module, reflects the same workshop tradition responsible for Naxos's celebrated larger silver.