Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Sicily, Katane AR Drachm. Circa 405-403/2 BC. Dies in the style of engraver Prokles. Female charioteer, holding kentron and reins, driving galloping quadriga to right; above, Nike flying to left, crowning charioteer with wreath held in outstretched arms / Horned head of the river-god Amenanos to left, wearing tainia; crayfish and two dolphins around, AMENANOΣ above. SNG Manchester 384 (same dies); SNG ANS - cf. 1263 for drachm by different engraver; HGC 2, 582 (this coin) corr. (incorrect description copied from 581). 4.20g, 19mm, 9h.
Good Extremely Fine; attractive iridescence around devices. Very Rare.
This coin published in O.D. Hoover, The Handbook of Greek Coins, Vol. 2 - Coins of Sicily (Lancaster PA, 2012);
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 116, 1 October 2019, lot 44;
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XIV, 4 January 2011, lot 23.
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.
During the ill-fated Athenian invasion of Sicily of 415-413 BC, Diodoros reports that Katane was at first in favour of Syracuse, though upon hearing the case of the Athenian strategoi Thucydides relates that the Katanaians were compelled to espouse the alliance of the invaders. Katane thus became the headquarters for the Athenian force, and remained its principal base of operations throughout the campaign.
It was to this city that the survivors of the Athenian general Nicias' massacred army escaped, finding refuge there until they could return to Athens. Despite the utter destruction of their ally's forces, Katane appears to have emerged from the war largely unscathed, and may indeed have gained some economic benefit from the 300 talents of silver that the Athenian reinforcements brought with them in 414 BC to hire Sicilian cavalry, in addition to the money the Athenians spent within the city. In any case, Katane remained free from Syracusan rule until 403 BC, when a force under Dionysios I was able to seize the city by surprise thanks to the treachery of the strategos Arkesilaos. Dionysios then sold its people into slavery and granted the city itself to his Campanian mercenaries.
It is to this period, immediately prior to Katane's capture, that this drachm belongs. It is a triumph of late classical style, struck during the golden age of Sicilian art when master die-engravers such as Kimon, Euainetos and Herakleidas were active. The obverse type of the victorious quadriga, derived from contemporary issues of Leontinoi and Syracuse, is rendered in a wonderful, dynamic manner which emphasises the thundering motion of the four galloping horses. The presence of Nike, soaring in from above to crown the charioteer, shows victory is assured. On the reverse is depicted the river-god Amenanos, appearing not as a bearded man-faced bull as Sicilian river gods were often portrayed in emulation of their father Acheloos, but in a handsome youthful form. The nature of his divinity is revealed only by the small bull's horn above his tainia and by the fish and crayfish that float around his face.
The double exergual lines, treatment of Amenanos' hair, upright posture of the charioteer and positioning of the horse's legs identify it as in the style of Prokles, a die-engraver whose signature appears on several tetradrachms of Katane. Unsigned drachms in his style are a rarity in the Katane drachm series, with drachms signed by Euainetos, Herakleidas and Choirion being more common.
Good Extremely Fine; attractive iridescence around devices. Very Rare.
This coin published in O.D. Hoover, The Handbook of Greek Coins, Vol. 2 - Coins of Sicily (Lancaster PA, 2012);
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 116, 1 October 2019, lot 44;
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XIV, 4 January 2011, lot 23.
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.
During the ill-fated Athenian invasion of Sicily of 415-413 BC, Diodoros reports that Katane was at first in favour of Syracuse, though upon hearing the case of the Athenian strategoi Thucydides relates that the Katanaians were compelled to espouse the alliance of the invaders. Katane thus became the headquarters for the Athenian force, and remained its principal base of operations throughout the campaign.
It was to this city that the survivors of the Athenian general Nicias' massacred army escaped, finding refuge there until they could return to Athens. Despite the utter destruction of their ally's forces, Katane appears to have emerged from the war largely unscathed, and may indeed have gained some economic benefit from the 300 talents of silver that the Athenian reinforcements brought with them in 414 BC to hire Sicilian cavalry, in addition to the money the Athenians spent within the city. In any case, Katane remained free from Syracusan rule until 403 BC, when a force under Dionysios I was able to seize the city by surprise thanks to the treachery of the strategos Arkesilaos. Dionysios then sold its people into slavery and granted the city itself to his Campanian mercenaries.
It is to this period, immediately prior to Katane's capture, that this drachm belongs. It is a triumph of late classical style, struck during the golden age of Sicilian art when master die-engravers such as Kimon, Euainetos and Herakleidas were active. The obverse type of the victorious quadriga, derived from contemporary issues of Leontinoi and Syracuse, is rendered in a wonderful, dynamic manner which emphasises the thundering motion of the four galloping horses. The presence of Nike, soaring in from above to crown the charioteer, shows victory is assured. On the reverse is depicted the river-god Amenanos, appearing not as a bearded man-faced bull as Sicilian river gods were often portrayed in emulation of their father Acheloos, but in a handsome youthful form. The nature of his divinity is revealed only by the small bull's horn above his tainia and by the fish and crayfish that float around his face.
The double exergual lines, treatment of Amenanos' hair, upright posture of the charioteer and positioning of the horse's legs identify it as in the style of Prokles, a die-engraver whose signature appears on several tetradrachms of Katane. Unsigned drachms in his style are a rarity in the Katane drachm series, with drachms signed by Euainetos, Herakleidas and Choirion being more common.