Lot 3073

Description

Sicily, Syracuse, Time of Agathokles, (317-289 B.C.), gold drachm, issued c.317-300 B.C., (4.298 grams), obv. laureate head of Apollo or Ares to left, dotted border, rev. **SUR A K SION* around, galloping biga driven to right, by charioteer holding goad, beneath horses a triskeles, (S.967, ACNAC Dewing 934-5, SNG ANS 549-553, Pozzi 639). Full flan, nearly extremely fine and rare.

An important issue struck prior to the Carthaginian War c. 310-306 B.C. Agathocles, a native of Thermae Himerensis rose to prominence in the wars of Timoleon and in 317 seized the government of Syracuse with the support of the lower classes. His career was stormy, as he faced both domestic opposition and Punic pressure. However even after he had consolidated his rule and assumed the royal title in imitation of Alexander's successors, he sought further military adventures. The issue of these gold drachms, his earliest coinage, already proclaimed his ambition in their assumption of the coin types of Philip II of Macedon. The addition of the triskeles symbolizes Agathocles' claim to the whole of Sicily.