Deinomenid

Seeing as I got lost down a strange dead-end yesterday listing mid to late 5th century BC ladies' headwear of Syracuse beginning with S, why break with recent tradition.... T is for tainia (headband) SICILY, Syracuse. Second Democracy. 466-405 BC. AR Tetradrachm (24.5mm, 16.85 g, 10h). Struck circa 450 BC. Charioteer driving quadriga right; above, Nike flying right, crowning horses; in exergue, ketos right / Head of Arethousa right, wearing tainia; four dolphins around. Boehringer Series XV, 541 (V275/R375); HGC 2, 1311; Jameson 763 (same dies); de Luynes 1173 (same dies).

S for sphendone. Sicily, Syracuse, silver Tetradrachm, c. 450-439 BC, charioteer, holding kentron and reins, driving slow quadriga right, Nike flying above crowning horses' heads, rev. ΣVPAKOΣION, head of Arethusa right, wearing sphendone, dolphins around, 17.25g, 11h (Boehringer 628, V319/R432; SNG ANS 200, these dies; BMC 101 these dies; Boston 385-6)

S for Sakkos, head covering. Sicily, Syracuse, silver Tetradrachm, c. 430-420 BC, charioteer, holding kentron and reins, driving slow quadriga right, Nike flying above crowning horses' heads, rev. ΣVPAKOΣION, head of Arethusa right, her hair within Sakkos decorated with meander pattern and laurel wreath, dolphins in fields, 17.32g, 3h (BMC 112; Boehringer 642; SNG ANS 207 same dies; SNG Boston 389, same dies)

Link - eagle SICILY. Syracuse. Hiketas II. 287-278 B.C. Æ litra. 7.69 gm. 24 mm. Laureate head of young Zeus Hellanios left; ΔIOΣ EΛΛANIOY / Eagle standing left on thunderbolt; ΣYPAK - OΣIΩN. CNS II, 158. HGC 2, 1448

Sybaris Lucania, Sybaris AR Stater. Circa 550-510 BC.

Syracuse, Second Democracy, Sicily Sicily, Syracuse, tetradrachm, c. 460-440 BC, quadriga driven right; pistrix below, rev., head of Arethusa right surrounded by four dolphins, 16.98g (Boehringer 516; SNG ANS 165, same dies)

Selinus, Sicily 540-515BC Catalog: SNG Munich 873-875; Hoover 1210; SNG copy 591-593 Materials: silver Weight: 9.05g Diameter: 21.00mm Mint: Selinus. Obv.: ivy leaf. Rev.: Eight-field quadratum incusum.

Queen AND Quadriga. Queen Philistis, wife of Hieron II: VF | abbreviations Catalog: HGC 1556 Caltabiano D8/R- Hieron II, 275-216 BC. BC, for Philistis. 16 Litrai 240/216 BC. BC Veiled head of Philistis, behind star / Nike in slow quadriga, above star, in field right K. HGC 1556 Caltabiano D8/R- 13.54 g

A slightly annoyed-looking bull here. SICILY. Gela. Circa 430-425 BC. Litra (Silver, 13 mm, 0.61 g, 4 h). Helmeted horseman galloping left, holding spear and round shield with his left hand. Rev.CΕΛΑΣ Forepart of a man-headed bull to right. HGC 2, 374. Jenkins, Gela, Group VI, 416. SNG ANS 82

Link - filleted Sicily, Himera, Stater or Didrachm, 430 BC, AU(50-53), Silver, SNG ANS:168f Nude rider dismounting from a horse galloping left, retrograd legend in exergue. The nymph Himera standing facing, head left, pouring libation over altar, filleted caduceus to right.

P for Parmenides the engraver. Tudeer 74 - unsigned Parmenides SICILY. Syracuse. Period of the Second Democracy - Dionysios I, 413-399 BC.Tetradrachm (Silver, 23.50 mm, 17.20 g, 12 h). Charioteer, holding reins in both hands and kentron in right, driving a quadriga rushing to left, about to turn, the head of third horse turned back to right; above, Nike flying right to crown the driver; in exergue, barley ear. Rev. ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ Head of Arethusa to left, wearing ampyx and sphendone decorated with stars, double-spiral earring and simple necklace with a large pearl pendant; in the field to left, two dolphins, one swimming downwards and one upwards; to right, behind Arethusa's neck, dolphin swimming downwards; below neck truncation, a fourth dolphin swimming right. BMC 211 (same dies). SNG ANS 284 (same dies). Tudeer 74, dies 26/51.

Link - frontal eye Syracuse, time of Gelon ~480BC, didrachm. Boehringer 100 (V46/R68) Obv: Naked rider on horse pacing r. Rev:ΣYRAKOΣΙΟΝ (N retrograde), diademed head of Arethusa right; three dolphins around. Boehringer 100 (V46/R68). SNG ANS 26 (same obv. die). Rare denomination. Good Very Fine. ( 22 mm , 8.4 Gm )

Link - rooster. Double pun coin. 480BC Didrachm, Himera, Sicily.Obv: Cockerel standing left Rev: Crab. Westermark 47-55; SNG ANS 158 (20 mm, 7.1 Gm) When Theron took control of Himera, expelling Terillus and setting in motion the sequence of events that led to the Carthaginian invasion of 480, he had at once altered the city's coinage in order to proclaim its subordination to Acragas . On the obverse he kept the rooster (a type parlant, punning on Himera's name), but on the reverse he placed a crab, the symbol of Acragas' coinage and also a type parlant, and converted the coinage to the Attic standard used by Acragas, with the didrachm as its largest denomination.

N - Nike Sicily, Syracuse, silver Tetradrachm, c. 450-439 BC, charioteer, holding kentron and reins, driving slow quadriga right, Nike flying above crowning horses' heads, rev. ΣVPAKOΣION, head of Arethusa right, wearing sphendone, dolphins around, 17.25g, 11h (Boehringer 628, V319/R432; SNG ANS 200, these dies; BMC 101 these dies; Boston 385-6). Very fine. (just got this one so not done much on it yet but for a Syracuse tet it's a decently preserved Nike)

Link star above. SICILY. Syracuse. Timoleon and the Third Democracy (344-317 BC). AR Hemidrachm (1.92 gm). Attic standard. Obv. Helmeted head of Athena facing slightly left; three dolphins around. Rev. Horseman riding right; star and grain ear to left, N below. HGC 2, 1370 | SNG ANS 522 | SNG Lloyd 1450. Very Fine condition. Silver, 1.92 gm, 14 mm R2

Mule Messana SICILY, Messana (412-408BC). Tetradrachm (16.82 g) with a hare running between an eagle or dove and an ear of wheat. R/ Biga of mules in step, in exergue two dolphins facing each other. Provenance: SantaMaria, Rome 1938 lot 92.

Leontini, Sicily 476-468BCHead of Apollo to the right, hair raised.. Lion's head to the right. Around it, LEONTINON and four grains of barley.♦ SNG ANS 247; Boehringer 46 (same corner of obverse) Silver tetradrachm. (17.18 g)

Kentoripai, Sicily Obv. Bearded head of Herakles r., wearing tainia. Rev KENTOPIΠINΩN, club Value mark XI below. Struck late third century BC. (A seemingly obscure Sikel city but one that had a moment or two of glory after a quick capitulation to the Romans when it was granted Latin Rights before the rest of Sicily and was a civitas immunis ac libera sine foedere (free city exempted from tax). Cicero once described it as being by far the largest and richest city of Sicily. Move over, Syracuse...)

Kore. The maiden/Persephone. Time for our Doric genitives oh my. The obverse shows the head of Kore, usually facing right, wearing a necklace, earrings, and a wreath made of a stalk bearing a full ear of grain. Her hair flows loosely about her neck and shoulders. This loose hairstyle is without precedent in Syracusan coinage, yet the type proved quite popular, reappearing on the coins of the Fourth Democracy, Pyrrhus, and Hieron I. Along the left edge appears the legend ΚΟΡΑΣ , the Doric genitive of Kore, "the Maiden," an epithet of Persephone. On the reverse a winged female figure stands at left, naked to the hips, with a hammer in her right hand and a nail in her left; she is preparing to nail a helmet to a freestanding trophy. Tetradrachm. 310-305 BC AGATHOKLES. SYRACUSE. SICILY

I just saw this title while browsing sales pages. The worrying thing is my first thought was “Yes indeed!” rather than “What a strange thing to write.” I need to get out more…

It won't help lost mail, but it can help the plopped at front door part - I have my fedex parcels delivered to a store near me - in a Walgreens in my case. That way I don't have to worry about porch theft at least.

With old tags, the ones from auction houses even many decades ago are rarely off by anything like that much (in my experience of Greek coins). The private tickets of collectors are though sometimes off by such a percentage or more. Presumably just more inaccurate scales.

H for Hieron I, tyrant of Syracuse, patron of the poets Simonides, Pindar and Bacchylides, and of Aeschylus and Epicharmus. Defeater of the Etruscans at Cumae, arguably saving Greek Italy from Etruscan domination. Hippic victor at Delphi and Olympia. Great city of Syracuse, sacred precinct of Ares who plumbs the depths of war, divine nurse of men and horses that delight in iron, I come to you bearing this song from shining Thebes, an announcement of the four-horse chariot that shakes the earth, in which Hieron victoriously conquered with his splendid carriage and wreathed Ortygia with far-beaming garlands. Sicily Syracuse, AR Tetradrachm, 485-478AD, Archaic bust of Arethusa right, Diademed, necklaced, with "All seeing" eye type, 4 dolphins around, rev Charioteer driving slow quadriga right, holding reins and kentron Nike flying above, wings outstretched, crowning the horses, Beaded border around, 16.95g, (Boehringer 335 (A/ 165 ; R/ 235) ; ANS.108)

Gelon the Second, also called Gelo. Son of Hieron II, and son-in-law of Pyrrhus. Cataloguers tie themselves in knots about whether he was a king (he died before his father) but Archimedes himself addressed him as such in the Sand Reckoner (how many grains of sand are there in the universe) so that plus the BA on this coin seal it for me. His coins are unusual in that they "merge" with Ptolemaic and Roman weights - "The diademed portrait of Gelon II appears on the obverse of silver 8- and 4-litra coins, paired with either the usual Nike in chariot reverse (4 litrai) or an eagle standing on a thunderbolt. The latter is very similar to the standard reverse type employed on Ptolemaic silver coins. This, combined with metrological considerations has led to the suggestion that the 8-litra piece may have circulated as a light Ptolemaic didrachm and the 4-litra as a drachm. It has also been pointed out that the larger denomination could have passed at the weight of a Roman quadrigatus didrachm (struck c. 225–211 BC) with the smaller serving as a drachm." His coins are also unusual as they identify “King Gelon” (abbreviated as BA) as the issuing authority BUT ALSO also name “the Syracusans,” usually in the nominative case. ................................................ SICILY, Syracuse. Gelon, son of Hieron II. 275-215 BC. AR 4 Litrai – Drachm (16.5mm, 3.35 g, 11h). Struck circa 218/7-215 BC. Diademed head left / Eagle standing right on thunderbolt; K to left, BA (FOR KING) to right. CCO 288 (D4/R3); BAR Issue 67; HGC 2, 1563; SNG Fitzwilliam 1411 (same dies); BMC 535 (same dies); Kampmann p. 31 (this coin).

G for Gela. Sicily, Gela, c. 420-415 BC. AR Tetradrachm (24mm, 16.65g, 3h). Charioteer driving walking quadriga l.; above, Nike flying r., crowning charioteer; in exergue, lizard l., about to catch fly (all very well but not so much on this coin!). R/ Forepart of man-headed bull l. within incuse circle. SNG ANS 91; HGC 2, 355 The man-headed bull is likely the personification of the river Gelas, where the city Gela stood. It was mentioned by Virgil (Aen. 3, 702) as 'immanisque Gela fluvii cognomine dicta' (and Gela called by the nickname of its monstrous stream).