★ Extremely Rare Litra ★

SICILY. Eryx. Litra (Circa 412-400 BC).

Obv: Hound standing left, head right, on dead hare.
Rev: Aphrodite seated left, holding arm of a nude boy (wingless Eros?) standing right.

SNG ANS 1347; SNG Copenhagen 246; HGC 2, 303.

Eryx stood on the mountain of today's Erice, at the western end of Sicily. According to Thucydides, it was founded by Trojan exiles and Eryx, the son of Aphrodite and the Sican king Butes, mythological figures reflecting the fusion of local Sican elements with refugees from the East, which originated the Elymian people. The city housed a very important temple of Aphrodite and attracted great economic interest, so much so that in the 6th century the Carthaginians successfully attempted to take over from the Elymians and provided it with an impressive city wall. Eryx remained in Punic hands until the end of the First Punic War, then in 248 BC it passed together with all of western Sicily into Roman hands. From that moment on, the city lost its strategic and military importance, but the temple of Aphrodite continued to represent an important religious pole, at the head of a federation of 17 Sicilian cities that paid a large tribute to the sanctuary.

Condition: Very fine.

Weight: 0.61 g.
Diameter: 12 mm.