These tetradrachms were struck in the final years of Akragas as a free city. In 406 BC, a Carthaginian force under Hannibal Mago and Himilco besieged and sacked Akragas after an eight-month campaign, effectively ending the city's independent mint. The coins produced in this narrow window carry an urgency born of imminent catastrophe — civic coinage on a grand scale, possibly including emergency issues to fund mercenary troops, while the city still stood to authorize them.
These tetradrachms were struck in the final years of Akragas as a free city. In 406 BC, a Carthaginian force under Hannibal Mago and Himilco besieged and sacked Akragas after an eight-month campaign, effectively ending the city's independent mint. The coins produced in this narrow window carry an urgency born of imminent catastrophe — civic coinage on a grand scale, possibly including emergency issues to fund mercenary troops, while the city still stood to authorize them.