Mints of Sicily
Coins | Mint
c. 700 BC/BCE to 300 CE
The coinage of Sicily can be divided in 7 periods:
Period I: Before 480 BCE. First in this period comes the coinage of the Chalcidian colonies. These early coins, some of which may belong to the end of the seventh century, follow the Aeginetic standard.
Period II. 480-413 BCE. The coins of this epoch, which are plentiful throughout the island, are of great variety and interest. In style they exhibit a continuous advance upon the methods of archaic art, and a nearer and nearer approach to the highest point of excellence ever reached in the art of die-engraving.
Period III. B.C. 413-346. Syracuse and Agrigentum now issued their magnificent dekadrachms.
Period IV. 345-317 BCE. With the expedition of the Corinthian Timoleon (345 BCE) a new era began for Sicily. Timoleon was everywhere the Liberator, and his influence is especially noticeable in the Sicilian coinage of his time.
Period V. 317-241 BCE. With the usurpation of Agathocles, Syracuse once more monopolizes the right of coinage for the whole of Sicily, even more distinctly than in the time of Dionysius. The civic coinages are entirely dominated by those of the great rulers, Agathocles, Hicetas, Pyrrhus, and Hieron II, down to the time of the First Punic War.
Period VI. 241-210 BCE . At the close of the First Punic War all Sicily, except the dominions of Hieron along the eastern coast from Tauromenium to Helorus, passed into the hands of the Romans. The immediate result of the new political status of the Sicilian communities was the issue of bronze money at a great number of mints.
Period VII. After 210 BCE. After the fall of Syracuse and the constitution of all Sicily into a Province of the Roman Republic, bronze coins continued to be issued at Syracuse, Panormus, and a great many other towns, probably for at least a century.
Subject ID: 128584
Subject ID: 128584
