Greek Coins Sicily, Syracuse

Tetradrachm circa 415-405, AR 28 mm, 16.41 g. Prancing quadriga driven l. by charioteer, holding reins and kentron; above, Nike flying r. to crown him; in exergue, cockle shell. Rev. ΣΥPAKOΣΙON Head of Arethusa l., hair bound by ribbon and floating above; around, four dolphins. Rizzo pl. XLII, 6 (this obverse die) and 5 (this reverse die). SNG Lloyd 11 (these dies). Tudeer 11. Coins, Artists, and Tyrants 11.
Very rare and among the finest specimens known. A very interesting and unusual portrait struck in high relief and an enchanting old cabinet tone. An absolutely unobtrusive area of oxidation on obverse, otherwise good extremely fine

Ex NFA XII, 1983, 25; Christie's 12 June 1993, McLendon, 21; NAC 82, 2015, 61 and NAC 114, 2019, 76 sales.
In an attempt to break the deadlock in the ongoing Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), in 415 BC, the Athenians mounted a naval expedition against Syracuse in the hope that by defeating the greatest Dorian Greek city in Sicily they could strangle the Peloponnesian grain supply and thereby force Sparta and its Peloponnesian allies into submission. Late in the year, the Syracusans were defeated in a pitched battle before the walls of their city, but over the winter, the Syracusan general Hermocrates made a strong case for replacing the city’s traditional board of 15 generals with a board of three to make decisions faster in the face of the Athenian threat. He also advocated for the erection of walls to connect Syracuse to its various outlying forts and the sea in an effort to prevent the Athenians from cutting the city off from reinforcements as they built their own circumvallation wall, known as “the Circle.” Unfortunately, by the spring of 414 BC, Syracusan efforts to stop the completion of “the Circle” had failed, and the city faced a full blockade by the Athenians under the command of Nicias.
Syracuse's situation began to improve later in the year when Spartan reinforcements led by the general Gylippus arrived in Sicily. Despite an initial military setback, Gylippus was able to defeat an Athenian force and complete a new counter-wall that rendered the Athenian circumvallation wall useless. Thinking that it would now be impossible to take Syracuse by siege, Nicias wrote back to Athens, hoping that the expedition would be recalled, but he was instead sent reinforcements. Their arrival meant there was little room for manoeuvre within the Athenian-controlled harbour of Syracuse. The situation became dangerous for the Athenians when additional Peloponnesian naval forces also reached Syracuse and in August of 413 BC, Nicias made plans to depart with the fleet. However, the bad omen of a lunar eclipse caused him to delay his departure until September. By this time, the Syracusans were able to trap the Athenian ships in the harbour. A furious battle was fought from 3 to 13 September 413 BC, which destroyed almost half of the Syracusan and Athenian fleets and forced 40,000 Athenians to escape onto the Sicilian mainland. Amid their disorganisation, they were massacred by Gylippus and a Syracusan force that had been lying in wait for them. The siege of Syracuse was over, and the defenders now profited from the sale of some 7,000 Athenian prisoners into slavery and the booty taken from the Athenian ships captured in the harbour. The Syracusan victory had major consequences for both the victors and the vanquished. The loss of so many men and ships hobbled Athenian naval power in the Aegean Sea and provided opportunity for revolts against Athenian domination and for the development of a Peloponnesian navy, both of which ultimately led to the final defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. At the same time, the great influx of silver to Syracuse from the sale of plunder resulted in the production of a vast series of tetradrachms. The new coinage, to which this tetradrachm belongs, involved many artists, some of whom are considered to represent the high point of the Classical engraver’s art, and a great deal of experimentation with the traditional Syracusan types of a quadriga victorious in the games and Arethusa, the nymph of the city. Some of this experimentation is visible in the reverse of this tetradrachm, where the artist has depicted Arethusa with her curly hair in wild disarray as if she were submerged under water, her natural element.