v49_0037 - BRUTTIUM - REGGIO Onkia, (PBQ, Æ 13)

BRUTTIUM - REGGIO

(5th century BC)

Rhegium (Rhegion), the last city of the Italian boot on the continent, located on the Strait of Messina opposite Sicily, was founded around 720 BC by Chalcidian settlers. Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium, welcomed many Greeks from Asia Minor who fled the Persian danger in 494 BC. With the help of his new colonists, he conquered Zancle which was renamed Messina, occupied by many Messenians. Anaxilas won a victory at the Olympics of 480 BC and introduced a mule bege on the coinage of Rhegium and Messina before extending it to most of Sicily. The tyrant's son was driven out in 476 BC. Democracy was established in 461 BC and this date marks the beginning of coinage with the founding hero of the city, Iokaste. The city was destroyed in 387 BC by Dionysius of Syracuse.