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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Collect89, post: 1851746, member: 15445&quot;][ATTACH=full]309498[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>SICILY, Messana</b></p><p><b>AR Tetradrachm </b></p><p><b>480-461 BC </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p>17.21 grams, 25 mm.</p><p><b>Obv:</b> Biga of mules (an apene) driven right by seated charioteer. Nike above crowning mules.</p><p><b>Rev:</b> Hare bounding to right with spray of olive beneath. MEΣΣA.ИIOИ. (retrograde Ns)</p><p><b>Grade:</b> a nicely toned Good Fine coin with claims to aVF.</p><p><b>Other:</b> Similar to Sear 843 &amp; 847. SNGANS.314. From Pegasi Jan 2014.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Messana is the city in Sicily located really close to ‘the toe’ of mainland Italy (just across the Straits of Messina). The city was originally called Zankle “Sickle”, which is the shape of its harbor.</p><p><br /></p><p>Messana was originally colonized by settlers from Cumae and Euboea who named the city Zancle. It prospered for a couple centuries before it was captured by the tyrant Anaxilas in 490. Since Anaxilas was of Messenian descent, he changed the city’s name from Zancle to Messana, and populated it with new arrivals from Messenia and Samos. Amongst other things, the tyrant Anaxilas is credited with introducing the hare to Sicily.</p><p><br /></p><p>The obverse depicts a charioteer driving a chariot drawn by two mules (an <i>apene</i>). Apene races were first held at the Olympic Games around 500 BC. The tyrant Anaxilas, apparently had an Olympic mule-team victory in 480 B.C. and he commemorated it with this coin type. The design is associated with Messana and the design was kept after Anaxilas’ death in 476 BC. My coin is supposedly from 480 to 461 B.C.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse depicts a hare jumping with the inscription &quot; MEΣΣA.ИIOИ&quot; (of the Messenians). The hare on the reverse may symbolize the speed of Anaxilas’ chariot, or it may symbolize some association with fertility and abundance. The hare may also be on the coin simply because hare hunts were a favorite aristocratic pastime.</p><p><br /></p><p>The history of this Greek state/city in Sicily does not begin &amp; end with my new fifth Century B.C. jackalope coin. A couple hundred years later, the Battle of Messana in 265-264 BC was the first military clash between the Roman Republic and Carthage. It marked the start of the First Punic War. In that period, Sicily became of increasing strategic importance to Rome.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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