SYRACUSE GOLD 25 LITRAE – ISSUE OF AGATHOCLES WITH PERSEPHONE AND BULL – XF NGC GRADED GREEK SICILY COIN (Inv. 19732)

$3,750.00

19732. SICILY. SYRACUSE. AGATHOCLES. Ca. 317–289 BC.
Gold 25 Litrae, 1.37 g, 12 mm. Issue of ca. 317–310 BC.
Obv. Head of Persephone left, wearing wreath of grain. Rev. ΣYPAK–OΣIΩN, bull to left.
HGC 2, 1288; SNG ANS 707.
NGC graded XF, Strike 4/5, Surface 3/5.

This gold denomination was probably struck to finance the many military ventures of Agathocles’ early career as tyrant of Syracuse. In ca. 317 BC, after sweeping to power with the assistance of a mercenary army, Agathocles massacred or otherwise expelled the city’s rich oligarchs and seized their wealth while proclaiming a new democracy. He no doubt melted down and struck coins from their wealth to maintain his army, which faced constant threat of a revolution to restore the Syracusan oligarchy from the sympathetic elite of Agrigentum, Messana, and Gela. By 312 BC, however, Agathocles had extended his influence over these cities then entered into a disastrous war against the Carthaginians in western Sicily. In 311 BC, following a crushing defeat at the Himera River, Agathocles withdrew to Syracuse, where he was closely besieged. The siege was only lifted in 310 BC, after the tyrant and a small army escaped by sea to bring the war to the gates of Carthage.