Nomos AG
Auction 27 22 May 2023
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SICILY. Syracuse. Early Tyrannies, circa 505-490 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 29.5 mm, 17.57 g, 3 h). ϞVRΑϘΟ / ϞΙΟΝ Male charioteer, holding the reins in both hands, driving a quadriga walking to right; border of dots. Rev. Head of Arethusa to left, with a hairband over her forehead, within a small incuse circle at the center of a four-part mill-sail incuse square. Boheringer 17 (V13/R8) = Jameson 735 same dies. Buceti 2. Toned and attractive. Good very fine.
Ex Triton II, 1 December 1998, 218 and Numismatica Ars Classica 10, 9 April 1997, 130.
The types on this early Syracusan coin continued to be used on the city's abundant tetradrachm issues throughout the 5th century BC. The only changes were that the ethnic was removed from the obverse to the reverse; and the left-facing head at the center of the incuse square format on the reverse was changed to a right-facing head of Arethusa surrounded by dolphins. The early reverses with Arethusa's head within an incuse circle at the middle of a mill-sale pattern incuse square (as here), must have been intended to allude to Arethusa's appearance in the spring on the island of Ortygia. Almost immediately this allusion was made explicit by allowing the nymph's head to fill up much of the field and by changing the four "mill sails" into dolphins. Within this basic format the engravers were able to follow their own instinct within the stylistic trends of the day: over the century the chariot's four horses went from walking to trotting to galloping - all the way to running at full speed; as for the heads of Arethusa, her hair styles changed just as did those of the fashionable upper-class women of the day; and the dolphins ceased swimming in a sedate circle.
Ex Triton II, 1 December 1998, 218 and Numismatica Ars Classica 10, 9 April 1997, 130.
The types on this early Syracusan coin continued to be used on the city's abundant tetradrachm issues throughout the 5th century BC. The only changes were that the ethnic was removed from the obverse to the reverse; and the left-facing head at the center of the incuse square format on the reverse was changed to a right-facing head of Arethusa surrounded by dolphins. The early reverses with Arethusa's head within an incuse circle at the middle of a mill-sale pattern incuse square (as here), must have been intended to allude to Arethusa's appearance in the spring on the island of Ortygia. Almost immediately this allusion was made explicit by allowing the nymph's head to fill up much of the field and by changing the four "mill sails" into dolphins. Within this basic format the engravers were able to follow their own instinct within the stylistic trends of the day: over the century the chariot's four horses went from walking to trotting to galloping - all the way to running at full speed; as for the heads of Arethusa, her hair styles changed just as did those of the fashionable upper-class women of the day; and the dolphins ceased swimming in a sedate circle.