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Litra
| Issuer | Katane |
|---|---|
| Year | 430 BC - 415 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Litra |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Bearded head of the river god Selinos facing right, rendered in archaic Sicilian style with flowing hair and beard. The effigy exhibits a naturalistic modeling of facial features characteristic of late fifth-century BC Sicilian coinage. A beaded border frames the design along the coin's periphery. |
|---|---|
| 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 | ΚΑΤ-Α-ΝΑΙΩΝ |
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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.