CATANE SILVER TETRADRACM – CLASSICAL PERIOD ISSUE WITH RIVER GOD AMENANUS AND NIKE WITH 2000 KUENKER PROVENANCE – XF NGC GRADED GREEK SICILY COIN (Inv. 20398)

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20398. SICILY. CATANE. Ca. 465-450 BC.
Silver Tetradrachm, 17.04 g, 24 mm. Issue of 461-450 BC.
Obv. River god Amenanus kneeling right, palmette in exergue. Rev. KATANA[IO]N, Nike striding left, holding fillet and wreath, H in left field.
Randazzo Hoard 74-5 (same reverse die); SNG ANS 1236 (same dies); HGC 2, 565.
Ex Markov 63, 1/16/2025, lot 1019 = CNG 99, 5/13/2015, lot 22 = CNG Electronic Auction 159, 2/28/2007, lot 7 = Peus 380, 11/3/2004, lot 189 = Künker 59, 9/26/2000, lot 55.
NGC graded XF, Strike 4/5, Surface 3/5, dark toning, very rare, with eight other specimens in market records.

Catane, located in a fertile region of Sicily at the southern foot of Mount Etna, was settled by Chalcidian Greek colonists from nearby Naxos in 729 BC. The city prospered from the agricultural wealth of the surrounding volcanic soil and gained fame for the piety of two Catanean brothers who saved their aged parents from death during an eruption of Mount Etna by carrying them on their backs. Unfortunately, in 476 BC, the city drew the unwelcome attention of Hieron I, the tyrant of Syracuse. Greedy for the city’s agricultural territory, Hieron conquered Catane, expelled the inhabitants, and resettled the city with settlers from Leontini loyal to him. For more than a decade, the Cataneans lived in exile while their city, renamed Aetna, served the tyrants of Syracuse. At last, the Syracusan tyranny was overthrown, and in 461 BC, the Cataneans returned to their city to throw out the Leontinians and reclaim their homes. This tetradrachm was struck in the happy decade after the return of the Cataneans.