Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 134 21 Nov 2022
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Greek Coins. Segesta.
Didrachm circa 475-450, AR 8.46 g. Hound standing l., lowering head to ground; above, head of nymph l. Rev. ΣAΓEΣTAZIB Head of Aigeste r., hair bound with ribbon. Rizzo pl. 61, 17 (these dies). Gillet 508 (this coin). Hurter 170b (this coin).
Extremely rare. Wonderful old cabinet tone, a portrait of fine style and good very fine
From the Charles Gillet collection and an Exceptional Collection assembled between the early 70s and late 90s.
Although Greek tradition liked to associate the western Sicilian city of Segesta with fugitives fleeing the fall of Troy, it was actually a foundation of the Elymians, a native Sicilian people. Segesta was a prosperous city with a large grain-producing hinterland and a port for foreign trade, but after the establishment of the Dorian Greek colony at nearby Selinus in ca. 628/7 BC, Segesta gradually began to feel pressured. In ca. 580 BC, a border dispute between the cities erupted in open war. The two clashed again in 454 BC over the expansion of territory claimed by Selinus along the Mazaras River. Fear of the increasing power of Selinus caused the Elymians of Segesta to seek alliances with foreign powers. They first concluded an alliance with Athens in 426 BC after deceiving an Athenian embassy into the belief that the city possessed remarkable wealth, but when the Athenian expeditionary fleet was destroyed at Syracuse in 413 BC it became clear that Segesta would need to look for help elsewhere. In 410 BC, Carthage assisted Segesta in defeating Selinus, but followed up the next year by dispatching a grand army bent on the complete conquest of western Sicily. Selinus was destroyed, but Segesta was subsequently forced to pay tribute to Carthage for the remainder of the fifth century BC. The present didrachm was struck in the early period of conflict between Segesta and Selinus before the cycle of alliances that ultimately destroyed the latter and firmly established Punic power in western Sicily. It may have been produced to pay the mercenaries that regularly formed the armies of ancient Sicilian cities. The obverse features a hound, probably intended to represent one of the animals belonging to the hunter Aegistes-the mythological founder of Segesta-or the form said to have been taken by the river-god Crimisus when he conceived Aegistes with the Trojan princess Aegiste. Aegistes appears with two hounds at his feet on Segestan tetradrachms of the late fifth and early fourth century BC. The reverse depicts Aegiste with the obvious influence of contemporary Syracusan representations of Arethusa.
Didrachm circa 475-450, AR 8.46 g. Hound standing l., lowering head to ground; above, head of nymph l. Rev. ΣAΓEΣTAZIB Head of Aigeste r., hair bound with ribbon. Rizzo pl. 61, 17 (these dies). Gillet 508 (this coin). Hurter 170b (this coin).
Extremely rare. Wonderful old cabinet tone, a portrait of fine style and good very fine
From the Charles Gillet collection and an Exceptional Collection assembled between the early 70s and late 90s.
Although Greek tradition liked to associate the western Sicilian city of Segesta with fugitives fleeing the fall of Troy, it was actually a foundation of the Elymians, a native Sicilian people. Segesta was a prosperous city with a large grain-producing hinterland and a port for foreign trade, but after the establishment of the Dorian Greek colony at nearby Selinus in ca. 628/7 BC, Segesta gradually began to feel pressured. In ca. 580 BC, a border dispute between the cities erupted in open war. The two clashed again in 454 BC over the expansion of territory claimed by Selinus along the Mazaras River. Fear of the increasing power of Selinus caused the Elymians of Segesta to seek alliances with foreign powers. They first concluded an alliance with Athens in 426 BC after deceiving an Athenian embassy into the belief that the city possessed remarkable wealth, but when the Athenian expeditionary fleet was destroyed at Syracuse in 413 BC it became clear that Segesta would need to look for help elsewhere. In 410 BC, Carthage assisted Segesta in defeating Selinus, but followed up the next year by dispatching a grand army bent on the complete conquest of western Sicily. Selinus was destroyed, but Segesta was subsequently forced to pay tribute to Carthage for the remainder of the fifth century BC. The present didrachm was struck in the early period of conflict between Segesta and Selinus before the cycle of alliances that ultimately destroyed the latter and firmly established Punic power in western Sicily. It may have been produced to pay the mercenaries that regularly formed the armies of ancient Sicilian cities. The obverse features a hound, probably intended to represent one of the animals belonging to the hunter Aegistes-the mythological founder of Segesta-or the form said to have been taken by the river-god Crimisus when he conceived Aegistes with the Trojan princess Aegiste. Aegistes appears with two hounds at his feet on Segestan tetradrachms of the late fifth and early fourth century BC. The reverse depicts Aegiste with the obvious influence of contemporary Syracusan representations of Arethusa.