Syrakus und Leontinoi

Abstract

One of the most famous coins of antiquity is the Syracusan decadrachm which the ancient writers call the Damareteion. Gelon had it struck after his victory over the Carthaginians in 480 BC and named it after his wife Damarete, who had donated the metal. The obverse shows a quadriga at the walk with a Nike above crowning the third horse and a lion rushing in the exergue; the reverse the head of Artemis Arethusa in an olive wreath with four dolphins. Since the Duc de Luynes the lion has been taken for a symbol of Africa and the design for a reference to the triumph over Carthage. Arthur Evans was the first to object, pointing to the same lion on Leontine coins of the same date and to its meaning as a sign of Apollo, but he did not receive the attention he deserved.

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Suggested citation

Chantraine, Heinrich: Syrakus und Leontinoi. In: Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 8 (1957), pp. 7–19.

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