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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Gela |
|---|---|
| Year | 406 BC - 405 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | Female head of Sosipolis in right-facing profile, her hair bound in an ampyx across the forehead and further secured by a sphendone at the nape, with loose locks falling behind. She wears a pendant necklace, rendered with fine engraving typical of the accomplished Sicilian die-engravers of the early fourth century BC. The legend ΣΩΣIΠΟΛIΣ is inscribed in the field, identifying the personification. The portrait displays the high artistic quality associated with the final coinage of Gela before the city's destruction by Carthage in 405 BC. |
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| Additional information |
Gela's gold issues of 405–406 BC were produced under extreme duress. The Carthaginian general Himilco had destroyed Selinus and Akragas and was advancing on Gela itself; the city would fall and be permanently abandoned within months of these coins being struck. Emergency gold coinage of this kind was almost certainly minted to pay mercenaries or fund the desperate defense coordinated — ultimately unsuccessfully — by the Syracusan general Dion. The city's population fled to Syracuse shortly after, never to return in any significant numbers.
Jenkins 494 is among the rarest of the Geloan series.