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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Silphium Addict, post: 8206749, member: 116882&quot;]Very nice coins.</p><p>Ah, the Mamertines, &quot;bad boys of the Strait of Messina&quot;</p><p>The &quot;sons of Mamer&quot; (Oscan version of Ares) were Campanian mercenaries hired by Agathokles and stayed in Sicily when they became unemployed after his death 289 BC. They were invited into Messana then killed all the males and took their homes, dividing property and women. They became pirates and raiders. In 278 BC, Pyrrhus came to help defend Syracuse against their attacks. In 265 BC, Hiero II defeated them near the Longanus River and laid siege to Messana. The Mamertines asked for help from Carthage, then Rome, which triggered the First Punic War. Overall, a bunch of troublemakers. The Mamertini struck a variety of AE types, usually with a military theme from 288 to circa 200 BC.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1438711[/ATTACH]</p><p>Sicily, Mamertini</p><p>AE pentonkion 211-208 BC 11.85 gm, 25 mm</p><p>O: laureate head Ares left, linear circle border</p><p>R: man standing left holding spear in front of horse standing left, Π to left, ΜΑΜΕΡΤΕΝΩΙ to right</p><p>SNG ANS 430; HGC 2, 849</p><p>ex-Freedman, Triton V:180 01/15/2002[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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