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Greek Coins :
Greek City States : Sicilian Silver Tetradrachm of Gela
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Sicilian Silver Tetradrachm of Gela - C.2038
Origin: City of Gela
Circa: 450
BC
to 440
BC
Collection: Numismatics
Style: Sicilian
Medium: Silver
$7,000.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
Obverse: A Biga Racing to the Right With Nike
Flying Above
Reverse: Forepart of a Man-Headed Bull Facing
Right
According to Thucydides, the colony of Gela was
founded in 680 B.C. by Rhodians and Cretans. It
was located on a fertile plain near the mouth of
the river Gela, for which the city was named. In
the late sixth and early fifth centuries, the city
flourished under the tyrants Hippokrates and
Gelon, until Gelon seized Syracuse and moved
part of the Geloan population there. The
influence of Syracusan coinage is immediately
evident in the obverse of this tetradrachm, which
depicts the racing biga, its charioteer crowned by
Nike, which had by this time become a standard
type on Syracusan coins. The biga of the obverse
might also refer generally to the Geloan
aristocracy, which was known for its horse-
breeding and equestrian abilities; the city was
also famous for its cavalry, which the large
number of coins produced in this period may
have been intended to pay. The man-faced bull,
which is the main coin-type of Gela in the fifth
century, is a standard type for the Greek river
god Acheloos, but here as elsewhere it probably
represents the local river god. Its frontal eye in
the profile head and highly patterned beard are
characteristic of Archaic art.
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or your 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 touched the coin before us, or where the
coin will venture to after us. More than money,
coins are a symbol of the state that struck them,
of a specific time and place, whether
contemporary currencies or artifacts of a long
forgotten empire. This stunning hand-struck
coin reveals an expertise of craftsmanship and
intricate sculptural detail that is often lacking in
contemporary machine-made currencies. This
coin is more than an artifact; it is a shining
vestige of a powerful city’s ancient glory passed
from the hands of civilization to civilization, from
generation to generation.
- (C.2038)
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