Messana as Zankle. AR Diobol. Samian occupation, c. 493-488 BC

Lot # 149

Sicily. Messana as Zankle. AR Diobol. Samian occupation, c. 493-488 BC. Obv. Facing lion's scalp. Rev. Prow of a Samaina left. HGC 2 773 var. (Corinthian helmet before prow); SNG ANS 309 var. (same); Clain-Stefanelli, 'On Some Fractional Silver Coinages of Sicily and Magna Graecia during the Fifth Century B.C.', RBN CXXXIII (1987), p. 49, pl. VIII, fig. 5-6, 5-8; Campana, Samii, fig. 13 (litra). AR. 0.95 g. 9 mm. RR. Very rare and seldom offered issue. VF.

Ex Dorotheum Auctions 9/5314, lot 1085.

In 493 BC Zankle invited a group of Samian refugees to settle nearby after Samos fell to the Persians. The Samians chose instead to seize the undefended city itself, at the behest of Anaxilas of Rhegion. Upon doing so, the Samians betrayed Anaxilas, and allied themselves with Hippocrates of Gela. Around 488 BC, Anaxilas suppressed the Samian rulers, seized Zankle, and resettled it with colonists from Peloponnesian Messenia. In honor of their loyalty, Anaxilas renamed the city Messana, after their homeland.

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Closing on: 2025-03-08 14:00:00 Roma time