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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Messana |
|---|---|
| Year | 412 BC - 408 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | The nymph Messana, draped in a chiton, is depicted in left-facing profile driving a mule-biga at a walking pace, holding the reins taut in both hands. Nike, the winged goddess of victory, flies rightward above the scene to crown the charioteer with a wreath, lending the composition a triumphal character. In the exergue, two dolphins are arranged in opposition, a recurring civic emblem evoking Messana's maritime identity. The scene is rendered in the finely articulated late Archaic to early Classical style characteristic of Sicilian die-engravers, with careful attention to the anatomy of the mules and the drapery of the figures. |
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| Mint | Messana |
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| Additional information |
Messana's tetradrachms of this period were struck under Carthaginian pressure from the west and Syracusan dominance from the south, leaving the city in a perpetual diplomatic balancing act. The coins coincide almost exactly with the aftermath of the Athenian expedition's catastrophic collapse in 413 BC — an event that briefly reshuffled every power calculation in Sicily and gave smaller mints like Messana unusual room to assert civic identity through coinage.
Caltabiano 619 is a well-documented die pairing within a series notorious for its die variety complexity.