The 100 Greatest Ancient Coins from Whitman Publishing has already been quite a learning experience. As we curate a blog following alongside the series, we utilize the time to deepen our understanding of ancient culture and how the beginning of coinage really came to be. Author Harlan J. Berk leads us through the series from earliest and onward, so their rankings are out of order among the top 100. Our next coin comes from Sicily and the most important Greek city on the island it was established on.
#22 – Aetna Tetradrachm (Sicily 476 BC)
Located on the eastern coast of Sicily, the city of Syracuse was the biggest of the Greek cities on the island. The western half of Sicily was controlled by the Carthaginians, who were threatening to the Sicilian Greeks to the east. When the danger passed, the leaders of the Sicilians faced another set of issues as other cities under the control of Greece were looking to get out from under them.
In 476 BC in Hieron, violence ensued when the dictator of Syracuse turned against his authority to take total control of the Sicilian Greeks. It was then that the city of Catania, which was located to the east near Syracuse near the foot of the active volcano Mt. Aetna, posed the next threat to Hieron. He used his power to remove the native population and renamed the city to Aetna, bringing in immigrants from Syracuse and the southern peninsula in Greece.
After everything was over, the city would begin to strike its first coins. The tetradrachms of Aetna feature the head of Silenus on the obverse wearing an ivy wreath. He was the leader of the mythological satyrs and the companion to the god of wine, Dionysus. A beetle can be seen beneath his head, which is presumed to be the artist’s signature. The reverse depicts Zeus on a throne covered by lion skin.
According to Berk, the coin is a drastic example of the style of Greek art which showcases the transition between Archaic design to more natural styles. The relief is exceptionally high and the detail extraordinary.