Catalog
Tetras
| Issuer | Ziz |
|---|---|
| Year | 405 BC - 380 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 6.0 mm |
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| Obverse description | Bearded and horned head of Pan facing right, rendered in archaic Sicilian style with finely engraved wavy hair swept back from the brow. The facial features are boldly modelled, with a prominent nose, full beard, and the characteristic caprine horn emerging from the forehead. The bust is set within a plain field, with a dotted border visible along the coin's irregular periphery. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Ziz — the Punic name for what the Greeks called Panormos, modern Palermo — operated as a Carthaginian administrative center in northwestern Sicily, and its coinage was closely tied to the military and commercial needs of Carthage's Sicilian campaigns. The tetras, worth three onkiai in the Sicilian bronze standard adapted here to silver, is among the smallest denominational divisions struck in the western Greek world. At 0.20 g, production tolerances would have been punishing.