Description
Ca. 214-212 BC. AR 6 litrae, 4.85 gr.
Obv: bearded head of Herakles to the left, wearing lion’s skin headdress.
Rev: ΣYPAKOΣIΩN; Nike driving fast biga to the right, holding kentron and reins; below horses: ΞA.
Ref: Gulbenkian 361; SNG Lloyd 1570 (these dies); Burnett, Enna hoard, D44. Ex CNG sale 38 (1996), lot 158.
Very rare and in unusual condition for the issue. Extremely fine.
In the last three years of its independence, before the conquest by Rome, Syracuse issued a remarkable series of coinage. Depicted were the important deities Zeus, Athena, Persephone, Herakles, Poseidon and all were rendered by talented engravers. The Herakles portrait is especially forceful and virile – an outstanding example of late Hellenistic art.
