Obverse: Quadriga Racing Left
Reverse: Wreathed Head of Arethusa Surrounded
by Three Dolphins
Agathocles moved from his native town, Thermae
Himerenses (now Termini Imerese), Sicily, to
Syracuse about 343 and served with distinction
in the army. Twice banished for attempting to
overthrow the oligarchy, he returned in 317 with
an army and set himself up as ruler. Agathocles
then embarked on a long series of wars. His first
campaigns (316-c. 313), against the other
Sicilian Greeks, brought a number of cities,
including Messana, under his control. Carthage,
however, fearing for its own possessions in
Sicily, sent a large force to secure the island.
Thus the struggle that had gone on between the
Sicilian Greeks and Carthage intermittently since
the 6th century was renewed. In 311, Agathocles,
defeated and besieged in Syracuse, saved himself
by breaking through the blockade and attacking
his enemy's homelands in Africa. With
considerable success, he threatened the city of
Carthage itself in 310 BC but was defeated in
307. The peace he concluded in 306 was not
unfavorable, for it restricted Carthaginian power
in Sicily to the area west of the Halycus (Platani)
River. Agathocles continued to strengthen his
rule over the Greek cities of Sicily. By 304, he
felt secure enough to assume the title king of
Sicily, and he extended his influence into
southern Italy and the Adriatic. Later he formed
an alliance with Ptolemy I of Egypt. He raided
Italy and in 299 BC conquered the Greek island
of Corcyra (now Kérkira) in the Adriatic Sea.
Overall, Agathocles' reign as king was peaceful,
allowing him to enrich Syracuse with many public
buildings. Dissension among his family about the
succession, however, caused him in his will to
restore liberty to the Syracusans, and his death
was followed by a recrudescence of Carthaginian
power in Sicily.
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or purse? What eras and lands have the
coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of
who might have touched the coin before us, or
where the coin will venture to after it leaves our
hands. More than money, coins are a symbol of
the state that struck them, of a specific time and
location, whether contemporary currencies or
artifacts of a long forgotten empire. The obverse
depicts a Quadriga, or four-horse chariot, driven
by a charioteer who holds a kentron in his
outstretched right hand. The quadriga originally
may have referred to the favorite pastime of the
Syracusan aristocracy, the Gamoroi, who bred
horses and sent chariots to compete in the
Olympic games. The representation of Arethusa
on the reverse refers to her legendary connection
with Syracuse. A nymph of Elis in the
Peloponnese, she was pursued by the river god
Alpheios. To escape him, she withdrew under the
sea, finally emerging at Syracuse. She was
transformed into the fresh water nymph of the
island of Ortygia, the earliest settled portion of
Syracuse. The dolphins encircling her on the coin
perhaps refer to the location of her spring on
Ortygia, surrounded by the sea. This
magnificent coin is a memorial to an ancient king
passed down from the hands of civilization to
civilization, from generation to generation.
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or purse? What eras and lands have the
coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of
who might have touched the coin before us, or
where the coin will venture to after it leaves our
hands. More than money, coins are a symbol of
the state that struck them, of a specific time and
location, whether contemporary currencies or
artifacts of a long forgotten empires. The
obverse depicts a Quadriga, or four-horse
chariot, driven by a charioteer who holds a
kentron in his outstretched right hand. The
quadriga originally may have referred to the
favorite pastime of the Syracusan aristocracy, the
Gamoroi, who bred horses and sent chariots to
compete in the Olympic games. The
representation of Arethusa on the reverse refers
to her legendary connection with Syracuse. A
nymph of Elis in the Peloponnese, she was
pursued by the river god Alpheios. To escape
him, she withdrew under the sea, finally
emerging at Syracuse. She was transformed into
the fresh water nymph of the island of Ortygia,
the earliest settled portion of Syracuse. The
dolphins encircling her on the coin perhaps refer
to the location of her spring on Ortygia,
surrounded by the sea. This magnificent coin is
a memorial to an ancient king passed down from
the hands of civilization to civilization, from
generation to generation.
- (C.2047)
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