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Litra - Fourth Democracy
| Issuer | Syracuse |
|---|---|
| Year | 289 BC - 287 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | A large winged thunderbolt rendered in profile at the center of the field, its wings radiating symmetrically to either side in a bold, stylized manner typical of Syracusan civic bronze coinage. The legend ΔIOΣ EΛEYΘPIOY (of Zeus the Liberator) is divided, with ΔIOΣ EΛEY inscribed above the thunderbolt and ΘPIOY below, referencing the cult of Zeus Eleutherios. The flan is broad and slightly irregular, consistent with hammered bronze production of the early third century BC. |
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| Additional information |
Syracuse's Fourth Democracy was a turbulent interlude between the tyrannis of Agathocles and the eventual rise of Hieron II — a window of roughly two years during which the city governed itself after Agathocles died in 289 BC without a viable successor. Bronze coinage of this period was struck with some urgency, as the city faced immediate military pressure from the Mamertines, the mercenary army Agathocles had imported from Campania and which, now unpaid and uncontrolled, began seizing territory across northeastern Sicily.