Sicile - Syracuse
Denys Ier (405-367)
100 litrae ou décadrachme d’or (405-400).
Magnifiquement centré - Style d’une grande finesse.
Probablement le plus bel exemplaire connu.
Exemplaire de la collection Michel Eddé (1928-*), publié dans le livre de Nina Jidejian, Lebanon and the Greek World, 333 to 64 B.C. Portraits of Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies, the Seleucid and Armenian Kings illustrated by coins in the Michel Eddé Collection, Araya s.d., p. 137.
5.78g - ANS 338 - Bérend 42,3
FDC - MS*

This coin belongs to the apogee of Syracuse, as it was struck during the reign of the Tyrant Dionysius I (405-367 BC) who is remembered for having commissioned his coins from the best artists available. Arethusa was used on the obverse as a local deity, being a nymph of the spring of nearby Ortygia. Dionysius won a victory over Carthage in c. 396 BC, and this probably inspired – metaphorically – the design of the reverse on which Heracles is depicted strangling the Nemean lion.