Tetradrachm of Hieron I

I'm still woefully behind in posting new purchases but wanted to share this tetradrachm. It was a particularly tough coin to photograph, attempting to capture the surface luster as well as the toning, but I think it turned out fairly accurate. I'm personally not quite as drawn to archaic coinage in general but wanted to represent the type in my collection, and found this late example to be rather attractively styled.



Hieron I assumed the throne in 478 BC upon the death of his brother, Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse. Under Hieron’s leadership, Syracuse flourished with its influence extending into Southern Italy. A patron of the arts, Hieron opened his court to the famous poets and philosophers of the time, resulting in the city rivaling Athens in its cultural significance.

After Hieron’s death, his younger brother, Thrasybulos, seized power and ruled with an angry fist, executing prominent citizens and confiscating their wealth to pay his mercenary army. The populace rebelled and, with assistance from Akragas and Gela, was able to overthrow their leader, forcing Thrasybulos into exile. The newly re-founded, democratic government would stand for sixty years and continue to flourish.

With a dramatic shift in engraving style occurring shortly after the fall of Thrasybulos, it is very likely that this coin is one of the last issued under the Deinomenid dynasty, appearing deliberately archaized and closely patterned on the much earlier issues of Syracuse, with significant stylistic similarities to the famed contemporary Demaretion coinage.

The reverse features an early, archaic depiction of Arethusa, a beautiful sea nymph. According to mythology, while attempting to bathe in a river, the god Alphesus attempted to pursue her. She fled across Greece and Italy but Alphesus trapped her on a small island near Sicily. She prayed to Artemis to free her and he granted her request, transforming her into a spring around which the famous city of Syracuse was formed. Arethusa became the symbol of Syracuse and was featured prominently on its coinage in the fifth century BC, shown as a young woman surrounded by four frolicking dolphins.

SICILY. Syracuse. Deinomenid Tyranny (ca. 485-466 BC). AR tetradrachm (28mm, 17.33 gm, 3h). Time of Hieron I, ca. 470-466 BC. Charioteer driving walking quadriga right, holding kentron and reins; Nike above, flying right, crowning horses, ketos to right in exergue / σVRα-κοσι-ον, head of Arethusa right, wearing earring and necklace, hair tied with pearl headband, four dolphins around. Boehringer 412 (V212/R291). SNG ANS 142. HGC 2, 1309. Very Rare. Lovely late Archaic style! Deeply struck in good metal on an exceptionally broad flan, Good Extremely Fine. From The California Collection. Ex ROMA Numismatics VI (29 September 2013), lot 443.

Post your archaic coinage!

 

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That's some mighty fine artistry for an archaic!

Some of my archaics:


KARIA, Kindya
510-480 BCE
AR tetrobol, 2.18 gm, 11 mm, Samian standard
Obv: head of ketos right
Rev: geometric pattern within incuse square
Ref: Kagan and Kritt, 'The Coinage of Kindya,' NC 1995, 1 var. (head left); SNG Keckman 920 var. (same); SNG Kayhan 815; "Asyut Hoard" 688


IONIA, Samos
510-500 BCE
AR drachm, 13.7 mm, 3.2 gm
Obv: forepart of winged boar left
Rev: facing lion scalp with dotted square, within incuse square
Ref: SNG Cop 1673


KINGS OF LYDIA, temp. Ardys - Alyattes
630-564 BCE
Electrum trite, 4.8 gm, 13.4 mm. Sardes mint.
Obv: head of roaring lion right, sun with four rays on forehead
Rev: two incuse square punches
Ref: Weidauer Group XV, 64; BMC 2

Representatives from the Klazomenai Division 1st Pigasus Squadron, all circa 500 BCE:

drachm


diobols

 

Nice!! => another gem, Mr Bond (congrats)

Yah, I never thought I'd be embarrassed to post this baby, but you're always such a tough act to follow!!

=> oh well, I love this coin ...

Sicily, Syracuse. Hieron I AR Tetradrachm
(240 Onkia)
478-466 BC
Struck circa 478-475 BC
Diameter: 24 mm
Weight: 16.90 grams
Obverse: Charioteer driving quadriga right; above, Nike flying right, crowning horses
Reverse: Diademed head of Arethusa right; four dolphins around
Reference: Boehringer series IXa, 190 (V86/R130); SNG ANS –; Randazzo 356 (same dies)
Other: 2h, Near VF, toned, test cut on reverse
From the Robert and Julius Diez Collection, Ex Gustav Philipsen Collection (Part I, J. Hirsch XV, 28 May 1906), lot 1132

 

An absolute masterpiece. And a photograph to match. I owned a far lesser version once. This one is beautiful in all respects. Congrats.

 

Another amazing piece AJ, thanks for sharing!

 

Superb coin AJ. I also like the writeup.

 

Posting ANY follow up coin to an 'AJ' OP is probably the most daunting task any of us will ever face.

orfew says it for me:

 

Wonderful coin! I'm not sure how you can be "not quite drawn to archaic coinage" when you've got something like the OP coin in your stable. It seems most collectors have coins they claim they don't really collect, and yet, there they are. How many times have we heard someone say, "I don't really collect LRB's," and then they proceed to post a dozen of them, lol.

 

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE IT!

that little sea monster in ex. is cool.

 

Clearly AJ is in denial, since archaics comprise ~16% of his collection.

 

LOL. I guess I'm guilty of that. Like most ancient collectors starting out, I collected some of everything until I decided several years ago to focus on RR. I sold most of my "varied" collection but kept a handful of coins as interesting examples or coins that remained special to me. I've only got about 8 Greeks anymore.

So, I don't really collect these but here's mine.

 

Beautiful, what more can be said?

 

I totally agree with my coin-bro => that sea monster in exergue is awesome!!

... sadly, although my coin-artist rocked, he seemed to run out of steam and decided not to light 'er up in exergue!? (my sweet example merely has a blank canvas ... hey, maybe I should etch some cool graffiti on it, eh?)





Man, I wish that I had sweet Princess' tech-skills, then I'd etch something funny on that exergue-canvas (*hint*)



Oh, and Cathargo => your example is very cool, especially because your Nike is flying to the left (very cool example ... congrats to all of us, eh?)

 

Well, since you don't collect these, you can sell it to me. On the cheap of course.

 

Hey Carthago, when I look at your amazing example and my stevex6 example, it almost looks like we have "Tri-rigas" rather than Quad-rigas, eh? (our examples definitely show sets-of-three legs ... or is it just me?)

Ummm, my version might have sets of four? (if you squint your eyes)

... I kinda like coins a bit (my coin rocks)

 

Ya know, I think it is a Triga!

 

again => I think that my coin "occasionally" shows 4 sets of legs?

=> maybe there are different versions?

Bigas, Trigas and Quadrigas?

Let's ask AJ => he'll know?

 

Thanks everyone!

I don't mind being a bit hypocritical from time to time (although, excluding electrum from the count would make it a fair bit lower overall) Many coin types from the archaic period don't appeal to me, although I still do look through them just in case. I can certainly be swayed by particularly nice examples... perhaps I'll self-identify as a fair weather archaicist