Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 96 14-15 February 2017
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Sicily, Syracuse. Timoleon and the Third Democracy. Æ Hemidrachm (14.68 g), 344-317 BC. Struck ca. 344-339/8 BC. [ZEYΣ] EΛ-EY-ΘEPIOΣ, laureate head of Zeus Eleutherios right. Reverse: ΣYPAKO-ΣIΩ[N], thunderbolt; to right, eagle standing right. Castrizio series I, 1γ; CNS 72; SNG ANS 477-88. Glossy dark reddish-brown patina. Magnificent! Superb Extremely Fine. Estimate Value $1,000 - UP
From The Herbert & Aphrodite Rubin Collection; Ex Birkler & Waddell II (11 December 1980), 82.
The overthrow of the Deinomenid tyranny at Syracuse in 466 BC was celebrated by the introduction of a new cult of Zeus Eleutherios ("the Liberator") and a festival (the Eleutheria) which involved a grand sacrifice of 450 bulls at a monumental altar. The same god is invoked on this coin struck under the Corinthian general Timoleon to advertise his overthrow of Dionysios II and the other Greek tyrants of Sicily, but it is unclear whether its issue was accompanied by such a vast expenditure of beef.
From The Herbert & Aphrodite Rubin Collection; Ex Birkler & Waddell II (11 December 1980), 82.
The overthrow of the Deinomenid tyranny at Syracuse in 466 BC was celebrated by the introduction of a new cult of Zeus Eleutherios ("the Liberator") and a festival (the Eleutheria) which involved a grand sacrifice of 450 bulls at a monumental altar. The same god is invoked on this coin struck under the Corinthian general Timoleon to advertise his overthrow of Dionysios II and the other Greek tyrants of Sicily, but it is unclear whether its issue was accompanied by such a vast expenditure of beef.