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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Gela (Sicily) |
|---|---|
| Year | 425 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Attic drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 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 | Youthful male head of the river-god Gelas facing right, hair cut short and bound with a diadem; three fishes swim in a clockwise arrangement surrounding the central effigy, a characteristic Sicilian device evoking the aquatic nature of the deity. |
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| Additional information |
Gela's tetradrachms of this period were struck by a city already past its political peak — the tyrant Hippocrates had made it a regional power in the early fifth century, but by 425 BC the polis was increasingly overshadowed by Syracuse and vulnerable to the territorial ambitions that would eventually see its population forcibly relocated by Timoleon in 338 BC. These coins circulated in a Sicily defined by near-constant inter-city warfare and Carthaginian pressure from the west.
Jenkins' die study remains the essential reference for attributing this series, with AMB Basel 286 and Kraay-Hirmer 164 providing the closest comparative parallels for die linkage. HGC 2, 349 situates it within a relatively compact emission sequence.