Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Tetras Campanian mercenaries
| Issuer | Katane (Sicily) |
|---|---|
| Year | 339 BC - 338 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Head of the local nymph facing left, adorned with a wreath, rendered in a relatively broad, bold style characteristic of Sicilian bronze coinage of the late 4th century BC. The hair is loosely arranged beneath the wreath, with individual locks visible around the neck and ear. Three pellets appear in the left field, serving as denomination marks for the tetras. The overall execution reflects the workshop tradition associated with Campanian mercenary issues at Katane. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
This small bronze was struck by Campanian mercenaries who had seized Katane following the Carthaginian campaigns of the early fourth century, holding the city for roughly a decade before Timoleon's forces expelled them around 339–338 BC. The coinage they produced during this occupation appropriated the city's civic types — a calculated act of legitimacy from a garrison that had no real claim to the mint.
Timoleon's Sicilian campaign, backed by Corinth, systematically dismantled these mercenary strongholds across the island. The brevity of this occupation window makes the type chronologically tight and historically specific.