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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Leontini |
|---|---|
| Year | 430 BC - 425 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Laureate head of Apollo facing left, rendered in the fine Classical Sicilian style, with flowing locks of hair cascading behind and a wreath of laurel leaves crowning the brow. The portrait displays sensitive, idealized facial features characteristic of the highest artistic achievement of fifth-century BC Sicilian die-engravers. A beaded border frames the outer edge of the flan. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Leontini's silver coinage of the late fifth century BC is inseparable from the political crisis that nearly destroyed the city. Syracuse had long pressured its Chalcidian neighbor, and by 422 BC Leontini's oligarchic faction effectively handed the polis over to Syracusan control — dissolving the citizen body and ending independent coinage. The tetradrachms struck in the years just before this capitulation represent the final assertion of a city fighting for its existence, not merely its commerce.
The Boehringer sequence places this issue among the mature dies of the series, after the influence of the Sicilian masters — quite possibly including artists from the Syracuse mint — had reshaped Leontinian engraving practice entirely.