Lot 3195

Description

Sicily, Syracuse, Time of Agathokles, (317-289 B.C.), gold dekadrachm, issued c.317-310 B.C., (4.22 g), obv. laureate head of Apollo or Ares to left, rev. **SURAK SION* around, galloping biga driven to right, by charioteer holding goad, beneath horses a triskeles and reversed N, (S.967, SNG ANS 549, SNG Fitzwilliam 1325 (same obverse die), Jameson -, SNG Lloyd -, SNG Lockett -, CNG Triton V, [lot 1233, same dies]). 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.