bgr_777877 - SICILY - MESSANA Litra

SICILY - MESSINA

(Fifth century BC)

Messina was founded by the Chalcidians to 725 BC under the name Zancle or sickle, which name comes from the shape of the port of the city. The Samians, fleeing the Persian yoke captured the city in 493 BC and held it for four years until Anaxilas tyrant Rhegion, do hunting and renames the city, Messina. Anaxilas and his son were overthrown in 461 BC and established democracy. Messina was destroyed by the Carthaginians in 396 BC Messina, having regained some prosperity during the second half of the fourth century BC, once ravaged by an invader was again, this time above, the Oscan mercenaries who destroyed the city and massacred its inhabitants in 288 BC The new masters, the Mamertines, maintained their autonomy under the control of the Romans until the first century BC The coinage ceased in 38 BC.