Eryx sat high on its rocky promontory in the northwest corner of Sicily, a city contested so persistently between Sicilian Greeks, Elymians, Carthaginians, and Romans that its coinage history reads as a proxy for the island's entire political turbulence. This litra falls squarely within the period of Carthaginian military resurgence under Hannibal Mago and Himilco, whose campaigns beginning in 409 BC destroyed Selinus and Himera and brought Eryx firmly within the Punic sphere. The city's coinage continued, but under dramatically altered political circumstances.
The tight date range and small module kept surviving examples few.
Eryx sat high on its rocky promontory in the northwest corner of Sicily, a city contested so persistently between Sicilian Greeks, Elymians, Carthaginians, and Romans that its coinage history reads as a proxy for the island's entire political turbulence. This litra falls squarely within the period of Carthaginian military resurgence under Hannibal Mago and Himilco, whose campaigns beginning in 409 BC destroyed Selinus and Himera and brought Eryx firmly within the Punic sphere. The city's coinage continued, but under dramatically altered political circumstances.
The tight date range and small module kept surviving examples few.