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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Gela |
|---|---|
| Year | 420 BC - 415 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Tetradrachm (20) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Slow quadriga advancing left, driven by a charioteer who holds the kentron in his left hand and gathers the reins in both hands; above the horses, Nike flies left and extends both arms forward to crown the team with an open wreath, rendered in the fine Late Classical style characteristic of Geloan coinage of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Forepart of the man-headed river god Gelas presented in three-quarter view to the right, his powerful bovine body modeled in high relief with musculature finely articulated; the bearded human head is adorned with a leafy wreath and rendered with exceptional naturalism. The retrograde ethnic legend ΓΕΛΑΣ arcs across the upper field, identifying the issuing city. The type alludes directly to the eponymous river deity of the colony. |
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| Additional information |
Gela's mint was among the most artistically ambitious in fifth-century Sicily, and the tetradrachms produced in this narrow window fall within the period immediately following the city's cultural peak under the tyrants — by 415 BC, Sicilian attention had turned catastrophically toward Athens' disastrous expedition against Syracuse. Coins struck in these years circulated against a backdrop of inter-city alliance-making and collapse, with Gela ultimately aligning against the Athenian force.
Jenkins' die study remains the essential reference for sequencing this series. His No. 472 places this piece within a tightly defined group distinguished by specific reverse die characteristics, making catalog attribution unusually precise for a fifth-century Sicilian issue.