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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Katane |
|---|---|
| Year | 465 BC - 450 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | The river-god Amenanos depicted as a man-headed bull advancing to the right, his right foreleg bent at the knee in a characteristic pose. A branch appears in the upper field above the figure, while a fish swims rightward in the lower field below. The treatment of the bull's muscular body combined with the bearded human head reflects the archaic Sicilian artistic tradition for river deities. |
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| Reverse lettering | KAT – ANE |
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| Additional information |
Katane was a Sicilian Greek colony originally founded by Chalkidian settlers in the mid-eighth century BC, but the city's numismatic identity was violently interrupted when Hieron I of Syracuse forcibly expelled its population around 476 BC, resettled it with Dorian colonists, and renamed it Aitna. The original Katanean citizens were driven to Leontinoi. When Hieron died in 467 BC and his successor's authority collapsed, the displaced population reclaimed their city and expelled the Dorian settlers in turn — and it is precisely this restoration that gives this tetradrachm its historical footing, struck by a community reasserting its civic existence through coinage.
The SNG Copenhagen and De Luynes specimens remain the standard reference points for die attribution in this early post-restoration series.