Electrum 100 litrai of Syracuse, 6.99 g.
Title
Electrum 100 litrai of Syracuse, 6.99 g.
Creator
Syracuse, Sicily, Italy
Date
c. 310-289 BCE
Description
Obverse: Head of Apollo to left, with long hair and laurel wreath; bow in right field; ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ: of the Syracusans
Reverse: Head of Artemis to right, hair bound with fillet, quiver at her shoulder; bow in left field; ΣΩΤΕΙΡΑ: Soteira.
Style/Period: Early Hellenistic
This coin depicts two major deities of Syracuse, the brother and sister Apollo and Artemis. Apollo, who had had a temple on the Syracusan island of Ortygia from the sixth century BCE, wears his attribute the laurel wreath. Another of his symbols, the miniature bow in the right field, may be an issue mark.
On the reverse, Artemis is characterized as “deliverer.” She had played an important role in Syracuse from its founding by Corinth in 734/33, when the island of Ortygia was consecrated to her. The quiver and bow refer to her connection with hunting.
The date of this coin is uncertain, but because its weight is lower than that of other Syracusan electrum coins of the period, Jenkins suggested that it could be later than the others, and he did not rule out a date after the death of Agathokles in 289 BCE.
-- Kelly Swett Riordan, LU '93
Bibliography: G. K. Jenkins, “Electrum Coinage at Syracuse,” in Essays in Greek Coinage presented to Stanley Robinson, C. M. Kraay and G. K. Jenkins, eds. (Oxford 1968) 145-162.
On the reverse, Artemis is characterized as “deliverer.” She had played an important role in Syracuse from its founding by Corinth in 734/33, when the island of Ortygia was consecrated to her. The quiver and bow refer to her connection with hunting.
The date of this coin is uncertain, but because its weight is lower than that of other Syracusan electrum coins of the period, Jenkins suggested that it could be later than the others, and he did not rule out a date after the death of Agathokles in 289 BCE.
-- Kelly Swett Riordan, LU '93
Bibliography: G. K. Jenkins, “Electrum Coinage at Syracuse,” in Essays in Greek Coinage presented to Stanley Robinson, C. M. Kraay and G. K. Jenkins, eds. (Oxford 1968) 145-162.
Source
Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased in Münzen und Medaillen Auction 61, October 7, 1982.
Identifier
91.038
Rights
Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890
Files
Citation
Syracuse, Sicily, Italy, “Electrum 100 litrai of Syracuse, 6.99 g.,” Lawrence University Classics Department & Ottilia Buerger Coin Collections, accessed November 5, 2026, https://thor.lawrence.edu/omeka/buerger/items/show/355.