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Tetradrachm - Gelon I
| Issuer | Syracuse |
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| Year | 480 BC - 478 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Quadriga driven at speed to the right by a charioteer in long chiton, holding reins and kentron; above, Nike flies right and extends a wreath to crown the lead horses. The scene is rendered in the early Classical style, with the horses depicted in vigorous motion and the charioteer shown in profile. The exergue is plain beneath the ground line. |
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| Mint | Syracuse |
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| Additional information |
Gelon transferred his power base from Gela to Syracuse around 485 BC and immediately began transforming it into the dominant city of the Greek west. The tetradrachms issued under his rule — and this issue falls squarely in that window — are among the earliest struck at Syracuse, and their production coincided almost exactly with his crushing victory over the Carthaginians at the Battle of Himera in 480 BC. Ancient sources, including Diodorus Siculus, claim the battle was fought on the same day as Salamis, a synchronicity the Greeks found too symbolically convenient to ignore.
Boehringer's die study remains the authoritative sequence for this early Syracuse series.