v25_0040 - SICILY - SICULO-PUNIC - LILYBAION Tétradrachme

SICILY - SICULO-PUNIC - LILYBAION Tétradrachme AU

MONNAIES 25 (2006)
Starting price : 750.00 €
Estimate : 1 200.00 €
unsold lot

Type : Tétradrachme

Date: c. 325 AC.

Mint name / Town : Machanat (Le Camp), Lilybée

Metal : silver

Diameter : 22,5 mm

Orientation dies : 2 h.

Weight : 16,79 g.

Rarity : R1

Coments on the condition:

Très beau portrait sur un flan un peu court et légèrement irrégulier, mais parfaitement centré. Très joli revers. Jolie patine de collection ancienne avec des reflets mordorés

Catalogue references :

CPS.393 pl. 12 (A/120 - R/ 321) (1 ex.) - MIAMG.5523 var. - GC.6436 var. (500£)

Obverse

Obverse legend : ANÉPIGRAPHE.

Obverse description : Tête de Melqart (Héraklès) imberbe à droite, coiffée de la léonté nouée sous le cou.

Reverse

Reverse legend : LETTRES PUNIQUES (MACHANAT).

Reverse description : Tête et cou de cheval à gauche ; derrière un palmier ; devant le cou du cheval, un épi de blé.

Commentary

Cassure de coin visible au niveau de la prunelle de l’œil.

Historical background

SICILY - SICULO-PUNIC - LILYBAION

(350-300 BC)

GK Jenkins, in the Revue Suisse de Numismatique, proposed the attribution to Lilybée for the Carthaginian series from Sicily to the legend of the camp (Machanat). The city was on the west coast of the island, not far from Motya and Eryx. The conflict between Carthaginians and Greeks and then Romans lasted more than three centuries. Carthage, the great metropolis of Tyrian origin, had been founded in 814 BC and its mythical queen, Dido, after having loved Aeneas, predicted the fierce hatred that Carthage and the new city that was to be founded by the Trojan in exile, Rome. The first major battle took place near Himera in 480 BC between the Greeks of Gelon and the Carthaginians. The western part of the island was often dominated by invaders. The second wave of invasions occurred after the disastrous Athenian operation of Alcibiades in 413 BC. A certain status quo was then established until the First Punic War (268-241 AC.) which saw the loss definitive of Sicily for the Carthaginians.