Description
Sicily. Himera. Tetradrachm ca. 440-400 BC. Silver 16.75 g.; 27.8 mm.
Obverse: Charioteer driving quadriga at pace to right, holding kentron in reight hand and reins in left; above, Nike flying left, holding a wreath for the charioteer //
Riverse: The nymph Himera standing facing slightly to the left, her head turned left, holding a phiale in her right hand over a lighted altar to pour a libation over it; to the right, a satyr (Silenus?) standing, showering in a fountain under a stream of water emerging from a lion's head; at the top right, a grain of cereal (wheat?). Reverse caption: ΙΜΕΡΑΙΟΝ
Extremely rare Tetradrachm with a very interesting type on the reverse. On the obverse, we have a classic Sicilian type, with the quadriga and Nike flying above, crowning the charioteer instead of the horses. We simply note that the ethnic is clearly mentioned in the exergue to indicate the provenance of the coin. The reverse has a very rich and unique composition. The main element in the center of the composition is this female figure, interpreted as the nymph Himera (or Himeraia). Almost uncirculated AU 50-53
Provenance Details
Ex Vinchon, 20 November 1992, lot 43.
Ex Faune d'Argent Collection.
Gutmann/Schwabacher MBNG XLVII (1929) 19; McClean 2298 (same dies); De Nanteuil 290 (same dies) and Egger 1909, Lestranges Collection, 157 (same dies). Same dies as following exemples, auctionned at Ars Classica - Naville VI (Bement Collection), lot 389; XII, lot 734; XVI (Spencer-Churchill Collection), lot 532 and XVII, lot 157.
Comment
The city of Himera was endowed with hot springs, and the nymph is said to have brought them out to honour Herakles and allow him to rest when he was passing through this region. Depicted draped and pouring a libation over an altar, the religious nature of the scene is evident. Although it is difficult to interpret this part, it is not impossible that it refers to a cult which honoured her for this gift of the hot springs. Behind her is a grain of cereal, a reference to the wealth of the city's chôra (its countryside), which was extremely rich in agriculture, particularly wheat production. It attracted a considerable amount of covetousness from its neighbours, such as Carthage, which tried to conquer the city in 480 BC during its invasion of Sicily, but was crushed by the forces of Gelon I of Syracuse.
Finally, behind the nymph we find a satyr (a silenus) showering in a fountain from which water streams through a lion's head (perhaps itself a reference to Herakles through the Nemean lion). This part of the composition is yet another reminder of the city's wealth of thermal springs, whose waters would have flowed through lion's mouths into fountains freely accessible to all. It is worth noting that archaeology has uncovered lion-headed gargoyles in one of the city's best-preserved temples, the ‘Temple of Victory’, which closely match the depiction on the coin.
The result is a coin bearing a rich iconography, highlighting the city's wealth of qualities and its numerous ancestral benefits, dating back to mythological times. A true numismatic masterpiece that can be found in the greatest collections of Sicilian Greek coins.
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