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Litra
| Issuer | Eryx (Sicily) |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | A hound depicted in profile, moving to the right with head lowered in a sniffing pose, rendered in fine archaic Greek style with naturalistic musculature. The animal's lithe body and extended tail are carefully articulated. The design is set within a plain circular field bordered by a beaded or dotted border characteristic of Siculo-Punic coinage of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Aphrodite, the principal deity venerated at Eryx, depicted standing facing with head turned to the left, her drapery rendered in flowing folds. She extends one arm toward a small altar over which she performs a sacrificial libation. Vine tendrils with leaves occupy the right field, referencing the goddess's fertile and chthonic associations. The composition is characteristic of late fifth- to early fourth-century Sicilian die-engraving. |
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| Additional information |
Eryx sat atop a mountain in western Sicily — Elymian territory, not Greek — and its coinage reflects an uneasy cultural blending under Carthaginian influence that intensified after 409 BC, when Carthage devastated Selinus and Himera. The litra was the native Siculo-Punic unit, and Eryx's adoption of it placed the city firmly outside the Greek monetary orbit even as its types absorbed Hellenic aesthetics.
Campana 7 is among the scarcer die groupings for this issue. The city fell under direct Carthaginian control during the First Punic War, ending independent civic coinage entirely.