DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45277#0188
104
SICILY.
with a mixed body of Syracusans and Peloponnesians. Soon after the
death of their founder these colonists were driven out of Catana and the
old population restored (b. c. 461). For the coins struck at Catana
during the fifteen years that it bore the name of Aetna, see Catana.
The Aetnaeans (b. c. 461) retired to Inessa on the southern slope of Mt.
Aetna, about ten miles N.W. of Catana, and to this place they trans-
ferred the name of Aetna and continued to look upon Hieron as their
Oekist (Diocl. xi. 76). Aetna was always more or less dependent upon
Syracuse, and was garrisoned by Syracusans before the Athenian war
(Thue. iii. 103). In b. c. 403 Dionysius established at Aetna a garrison of
Campanians, who held the town until the time of Timoleon, b. c. 339,
when the city regained its freedom. It is to this period that the first
issue of its coins belongs.
Circ. b. c. 339.
IEYS EAEYOEPIOS Head of Zeus
Eleutherios.
AIT N AIG N Head of Pallas.
,, Head of Persephone with
corn-wreath.
AI TN Al flN Fulmen . . . . ZE-8
Free horse, rein loose . . . . ZE -85
Id.ZE -6
The horse with loose rein is a symbol of freedom recovered, and is
frequent in Sicily in Timoleon’s time. The resemblance in style between
the last mentioned coin and certain pieces of Nacona and Entella, issued
while those cities were in the hands of the Campanians, is striking.
The remaining coins of Aetna are subsequent to the fall of Syracuse,
and belong to the period of Roman dominion.
After b. c. 210.
Trias. Head of Apollo radiate. AI TN AI flN Warrior standing, mark of
I value • • • . ZE -8
Ilexas. Head of Persephone. AITNAI.QN Cornucopiae • • . ZE-6
Agrigentum was by far the richest and most magnificent city on the
south coast of Sicily. The ruined temples still to be seen at Girgenti
would alone be sufficient to prove its ancient splendour. It stood on
a height a few miles from the sea near the confluence of the two rivers
Akragas and Hypsas.
Its coinage begins during the prosperous period which intervened
between the fall of the tyrant Phalaris (circ. B. c. 550), and the accession
of Theron to supreme power (circ. B. c. 488).
Circ. B. C. 550-272.
Inscr. AKRACANTOS AKRACA^, AKRA, etc.
Eagle with closed wings. I Crab ZR Didrachms.
I [B. M. Guide, Pl. IX. 24.]
The Eagle and the Crab are usually taken as symbolical of Zeus and
Poseidon, but it may be doubted whether the crab is not in this case the
fresh-water crab common in the rivers of Italy, Sicily, and Greece. If so,
the crab would represent the river Akragas.
Theron of Agrigentum made himself master of Himera, B. C. 482. A
comparison of the coins of Himera bearing Agrigentine types which can
SICILY.
with a mixed body of Syracusans and Peloponnesians. Soon after the
death of their founder these colonists were driven out of Catana and the
old population restored (b. c. 461). For the coins struck at Catana
during the fifteen years that it bore the name of Aetna, see Catana.
The Aetnaeans (b. c. 461) retired to Inessa on the southern slope of Mt.
Aetna, about ten miles N.W. of Catana, and to this place they trans-
ferred the name of Aetna and continued to look upon Hieron as their
Oekist (Diocl. xi. 76). Aetna was always more or less dependent upon
Syracuse, and was garrisoned by Syracusans before the Athenian war
(Thue. iii. 103). In b. c. 403 Dionysius established at Aetna a garrison of
Campanians, who held the town until the time of Timoleon, b. c. 339,
when the city regained its freedom. It is to this period that the first
issue of its coins belongs.
Circ. b. c. 339.
IEYS EAEYOEPIOS Head of Zeus
Eleutherios.
AIT N AIG N Head of Pallas.
,, Head of Persephone with
corn-wreath.
AI TN Al flN Fulmen . . . . ZE-8
Free horse, rein loose . . . . ZE -85
Id.ZE -6
The horse with loose rein is a symbol of freedom recovered, and is
frequent in Sicily in Timoleon’s time. The resemblance in style between
the last mentioned coin and certain pieces of Nacona and Entella, issued
while those cities were in the hands of the Campanians, is striking.
The remaining coins of Aetna are subsequent to the fall of Syracuse,
and belong to the period of Roman dominion.
After b. c. 210.
Trias. Head of Apollo radiate. AI TN AI flN Warrior standing, mark of
I value • • • . ZE -8
Ilexas. Head of Persephone. AITNAI.QN Cornucopiae • • . ZE-6
Agrigentum was by far the richest and most magnificent city on the
south coast of Sicily. The ruined temples still to be seen at Girgenti
would alone be sufficient to prove its ancient splendour. It stood on
a height a few miles from the sea near the confluence of the two rivers
Akragas and Hypsas.
Its coinage begins during the prosperous period which intervened
between the fall of the tyrant Phalaris (circ. B. c. 550), and the accession
of Theron to supreme power (circ. B. c. 488).
Circ. B. C. 550-272.
Inscr. AKRACANTOS AKRACA^, AKRA, etc.
Eagle with closed wings. I Crab ZR Didrachms.
I [B. M. Guide, Pl. IX. 24.]
The Eagle and the Crab are usually taken as symbolical of Zeus and
Poseidon, but it may be doubted whether the crab is not in this case the
fresh-water crab common in the rivers of Italy, Sicily, and Greece. If so,
the crab would represent the river Akragas.
Theron of Agrigentum made himself master of Himera, B. C. 482. A
comparison of the coins of Himera bearing Agrigentine types which can