Litra

This small silver litra falls within the final, desperate years of Akragas as an independent city. The Carthaginian general Hannibal Mago sacked the city in 406 BC after a brutal siege, ending centuries of Akragantine coinage production in a single campaign. Many issues from this closing window were likely struck specifically to pay mercenaries and fund the failing defense — which partly explains why survival rates for litrai of this period are so thin relative to the larger denominations that dominate collections today.

Westermark's die study places #608 among the later emissions of this window, suggesting it was struck close to the fall.