Lot 4672

Description

Sicily, Syracuse, Reign of Hiketas, (288-279 B.C.), gold decadrachm, (4.25 grams), obv. head of Persephone to left, with hair rolled and wreathed with corn, poppy behind, **QE* below neck, to left **SURAKOSIWN*, rev. galloping biga driven to right by Nike, crescent above, **Q* below, **EPI IKETA in exergue (cf.S.978, Buttrey, [Num. Chron. 1973], 2-D, SNG Fitz. 1362 [same dies]). Extremely fine and very rare.

Little is known of Hiketas beyond his coinage, but Buttrey in Morgantina Studies "The Coins" pieced together a history based on the numismatic evidence. Following Hiketas's defeat of Phintias, tyrant of Akragas, he set out against the Carthaginians. This campaign ended in disaster at the Terias river, northwest of Syracuse. Buttrey, based on his die analysis, concludes that this gold issue was struck very hurriedly towards the end of Hiketas's reign, and theorizes that this series was issued to pay for his Carthaginian campaign.