v23_0039 - SICILY - SICULO-PUNIC - LILYBAION Tétradrachme

SICILY - SICULO-PUNIC - LILYBAION Tétradrachme AU

MONNAIES 23 (2004)
Starting price : 650.00 €
Estimate : 1 200.00 €
Realised price : 650.00 €

Type : Tétradrachme

Date: c. 340 AC.

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

Metal : silver

Diameter : 25,5 mm

Orientation dies : 12 h.

Weight : 16,36 g.

Rarity : R1

Coments on the condition:

Style un peu fruste, mais copie très proche du tétradrachme syracusain

Catalogue references :

CPS.178 pl. 13 (A/51 - R/158) (11 ex.) - MIAMG.5514 (R4) (3100€) - GC.6432 var. (1250£) - Cop.982

Obverse

Obverse legend : ANÉPIGRAPHE.

Obverse description : Tête de Tanit (Perséphone ou Aréthuse) à droite, la coiffure ornée d'épis avec un collier de perles et boucle d'oreille, entourée de quatre dauphins ; sous le menton, un pétoncle.

Reverse

Reverse legend : LETTRE PUNIQUE (MACHANAT).

Reverse description : Tête et cou de cheval à gauche ; derrière un palmier.

Commentary

Mêmes coins que les exemplaires du cabinet de Bruxelles (de Hirsch n° 838) et du British Museum.

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.

cgbfr.com numismatists