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Banner Artemide LVII
Servile War Bronze of Eunos-Antiochos
Lot # 141
Sicily. Henna. AE 23 mm, c. 135-132 BC. Obv. Diademed head of Antiochos-Eunos right. Rev. BACI/ ANTIOX. Winged thunderbolt. HGC 2 401; CNS III 7; Buceti 11. AE. 9.19 g. 23.00 mm. RRRR. Of the greatest rarity. Apparently the second specimen known. The only one hitherto known (Cammarata example) cited in CNS, HGC and Buceti. About VF. This issue belongs to the time of a Servile War (135-132 BC). The long years of brutal treatment in Roman latifundia finally sparkled a slave revolt in Henna under the leadership of a Syrian slave named Eunos. He proclaimed himself king and assumed the Seleukid dynastic name, Antiochos, as a mean to projecting his authority. The local revolt soon spread throughout Sicily, thereby igniting the First Servile War. For three years, Eunos and his slave followers ravaged Sicily, capturing the cities of Katane and Tauromenion, and destroying armies sent against them, including that of the Roman praetor, L. Plautius Hypsaeus. Their successes inspired similar slave uprisings in Rome, Athens and on the island of Delos. At the last, the Roman consul, P. Rupilius, managed to besiege Eunos and his followers in Henna. The former slave-king of Henna died in prison at Morgantina.