Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIII 23 March 2017
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Sicily, Katane AR Tetradrachm. Circa 465-450 BC. The river god Amenanos as a bearded, man-headed bull kneeling to right, fish below; above, a heron standing upon his back and walking left / Nike, wearing long chiton, advancing left, holding taenia in her outstretched right hand; KATANE around. Rizzo pl. IX, 2 (same dies); Randazzo pl. 3, 48-53 (same rev. die); Kraay-Hirmer 31 (same obv. die); Randazzo -; SNG ANS -; Boehringer Ognina 74 (same obv. die); Ognina Hoard AttiMem pl. 1, 3 (same obv. die). 17.31g, 29mm, 3h.
Obverse die heavily used; Extremely Fine, light grey tone. Extremely Rare.
From a private American collection.
The city of Katane, founded around 729 BC by Chalkidic colonists from Naxos, was established on the site of the archaic village of the same name that was then peopled by the indigenous Sikels, who had named their village after the rugged black lava landscape (katane, meaning sharp stones). The native Sikels were rapidly hellenised, but the Naxian founders kept the autochthonal name for their new home on the banks of the river Amenanos.
This outstanding coin was struck within a few years of the refoundation of the city, issued in celebration of the return of the Chalkidic inhabitants of Katane to their homeland following the Aitna episode. Hieron, tyrant of Syracuse, had forcibly transferred the populations of Katane and Naxos, Katane's parent city, to Leontinoi, renamed Katane as Aitna and settled it with 5000 colonists from Syracuse and 5000 Dorians from the Peloponnesos However, after the death of Hieron in 466 and the overthrow of his brother Thrasybulos less than a year later, relations between the newly democratic Syracuse and its former colony soured, leading to war in 461. Allied with the Sikels under Douketios, Syracuse through several battles compelled the newly settled inhabitants to retire to the fortress of Inessa (to which they gave the name of Aitna), while the old Chalkidic citizens were reinstated in the possession of the city. The obverse depicts clear civic types referencing both the life-giving river by which Katane was sited, and other types (see following lot) reference the wine-grapes that must have been key to the city's prosperity through use of the type of Silenos. The taenia borne by Nike on the reverse here almost certainly alludes to the fall of the Deinomenid tyranny that, with the aid of Syracuse and the native Sikels, allowed the displaced people to return to their ancestral home.
Obverse die heavily used; Extremely Fine, light grey tone. Extremely Rare.
From a private American collection.
The city of Katane, founded around 729 BC by Chalkidic colonists from Naxos, was established on the site of the archaic village of the same name that was then peopled by the indigenous Sikels, who had named their village after the rugged black lava landscape (katane, meaning sharp stones). The native Sikels were rapidly hellenised, but the Naxian founders kept the autochthonal name for their new home on the banks of the river Amenanos.
This outstanding coin was struck within a few years of the refoundation of the city, issued in celebration of the return of the Chalkidic inhabitants of Katane to their homeland following the Aitna episode. Hieron, tyrant of Syracuse, had forcibly transferred the populations of Katane and Naxos, Katane's parent city, to Leontinoi, renamed Katane as Aitna and settled it with 5000 colonists from Syracuse and 5000 Dorians from the Peloponnesos However, after the death of Hieron in 466 and the overthrow of his brother Thrasybulos less than a year later, relations between the newly democratic Syracuse and its former colony soured, leading to war in 461. Allied with the Sikels under Douketios, Syracuse through several battles compelled the newly settled inhabitants to retire to the fortress of Inessa (to which they gave the name of Aitna), while the old Chalkidic citizens were reinstated in the possession of the city. The obverse depicts clear civic types referencing both the life-giving river by which Katane was sited, and other types (see following lot) reference the wine-grapes that must have been key to the city's prosperity through use of the type of Silenos. The taenia borne by Nike on the reverse here almost certainly alludes to the fall of the Deinomenid tyranny that, with the aid of Syracuse and the native Sikels, allowed the displaced people to return to their ancestral home.