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Tetras
| Issuer | Naxos (Sicily) |
|---|---|
| Year | 425 BC - 420 BC |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A kantharos (wine cup) depicted in profile at center, with two opposed handles and a tall, flared bowl resting on a slender stem and splayed foot. Three pellets are arranged around the kantharos — one to the lower left, one to the upper left, and one to the right — serving as value marks indicating the tetras denomination. The abbreviated ethnic N-A (for NAXION) flanks the kantharos to the left and right respectively, rendered in early Greek letterforms. The composition is contained within a plain, slightly raised border. |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Naxos was the oldest Greek colony in Sicily, founded by Chalkidian settlers around 734 BC, and was twice destroyed for it — first by Syracuse in 403 BC, which effectively ended the city's independent coinage. These bronzes were struck in the final decades before that annihilation, when the city was already operating under the shadow of Syracusan expansion under Dionysios I. The tetras denomination, worth three onkiai, was the workhorse of small-scale Sicilian bronze commerce.
The Cahn corpus remains the foundational reference for Naxian bronzes, and the die work on this type shows the city's mint was still capable of quality production even in its twilight.