Lot 3573

Description

Sicily, Katane, (c.461-450 B.C.), silver tetradrachm (17.04 g), obv. River god Amenanos crouching right on dotted base line, floral ornament below, rev. Nike advancing left, holding tainia in extended right hand, laurel wreath in left, H to left, KAT AN A [IO]N around. (cf.S.766, Mirone 16 (same dies as illustration), Randazzo 74, HGC 2, 565, SNG ANS 1236 (same dies), SNG Lloyd -, Basel -, Dewing -, Gillet -, Gulbenkian -, Jameson -, Rizzo -). Good very fine or better, toned, some porosity with an area of weak strike, very rare.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 159, 28 February 2007, (lot 7).
The Sicilian city of Katane (modern Catania) was a Chalkidian colony founded from Naxos in 729 BC. Katane was located midway along the eastern coast of the island at the southern extremity of the slopes of Mount Aetna. Its fertile territory was coveted by neighboring Syracuse and in 476 BC the Syracusan tyrant Hieron I removed the population of Katane to the inland city of Leontini. Katane was then given the name of Aetna and re-peopled with Syracusan citizens and a group of Dorian mercenaries. On the fall of the Sicilian tyrannies in the late 460s BC, the alien population was expelled and the former inhabitants of Katane returned from exile in Leontini to reclaim their city, which now reverted to its original name. It seems unlikely that any coinage was produced at Katane prior to the events of 476 BC, so any issues bearing the name of the Katanians must postdate the restoration of the original population in 461 BC. This tetradrachm is from the beginning of this coinage and depicts on the obverse the local river god Amenanos in the guise of a man-headed bull. The spirited figure of Nike holding a diadem appears, like so many Sicilian coin types, to have an agonistic significance.