Silver Tetradrachm of Akragas, 16.15 g.

Silver Tetradrachm of Akragas, 16.15 g.

Agrigentum (Akragas), Sicily, Italy

c. 412-406 BCE

Obverse: Quadriga driven to left by Nike holding reins in both hands and a goad in left hand; above, vine-branch with leaves and fruit. Exergue very abraded but perhaps originally ΑΚΡΑΓΑΝΤΙ/ΝΟΝ (Rizzo, pl. 2, no. 10; Seltman pl. 3, H).

Reverse: Two eagles devouring supine hare lying on rocks; farthest eagle has spread wings and is about to tear the prey; nearest has closed wings and raises its head and screams. In right field, locust.

Style/Period: Greek (Classical)

Beginning with the early coins of Akragas, the typical obverse image was an eagle, a symbol of Olympian Zeus, who was an important deity in Akragas. Sometime between 420 and 415, the single eagle was replaced by two eagles standing on and devouring a hare. The type depicting two eagles feasting on a hare may have originated as a tribute to the Greek playwright Aeschylus, who had died in 456 BCE in the nearby city of Gela; Akragas had been founded in c. 580 BCE as a colony of Gela. In Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Zeus sends a sign of two eagles devouring a pregnant hare to Agamemnon. An augur interpreted this sign to mean that the brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus would sack Troy (Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 109ff). Beginning c. 413 and continuing until its destruction by Carthage in 406, Akragas, probably in imitation of the coins of Syracuse, adopted a racing quadriga for its obverse type, and the eagles were moved to the reverse. The quadriga may also refer to the chariot victory of the Akragantine Exainetos in the 92nd Olympiad, 412 BCE (Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 13.34.1; 13.82.7).
Max Lavery, LU '17

Bibliography: G. E. Rizzo, Monete greche della Sicilia (Rome 1946) 90, no. 10, pl. 2; C. T. Seltman, “The Engravers of the Akragantine Decadrachms,” Numismatic Chronicle 8 (1948) 1-10, no. 11, pl. II, H; K. Jenkins, Coins of Greek Sicily (London 1976) 46-49; C. M. Kraay, Archaic and Classical Greek Coins (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1976) 226-227; N. K. Rutter, The Greek Coinages of Southern Italy and Sicily (London 1997) 149.

Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased from Harlan J. Berk, Chicago, IL

2001.080

Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890

Greek, eagle, hare, rocks, quadriga, horse, Nike, vine, leaves, fruit, Agrigentum, Akragas, Sicily, Italy