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Litra
| Issuer | Katane |
|---|---|
| Year | 430 BC - 415 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Litra |
| 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 | Upright winged thunderbolt depicted frontally at center, with large voluted wings spread symmetrically to either side and a flame-like finial at the top. Two round shields are positioned in the lower field flanking the thunderbolt's shaft, and the ethnic legend ΚΑΤ-Α-ΝΑΙΩΝ is distributed across the field around the central device. The composition is enclosed within a beaded border, with the lettering arranged in a scattered pattern consistent with Sicilian litra coinage of this period. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΚΑΤ-Α-ΝΑΙΩΝ |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Katane, situated on Sicily's eastern coast at the foot of Etna, was a Chalcidian colony whose coinage history was twice interrupted by violent political rupture. This litra falls within the period before Dionysios I of Syracuse expelled the Katanaian population entirely in 403 BC, resettling the city with Campanian mercenaries and renaming it Aitna. Whatever civic identity this coin carried vanished with that deportation.
The litra as a denomination reflects the broader Sicilian silver fractional system tied to the local weight standard rather than the Attic, a distinction that mattered considerably in regional trade networks of the fifth century.