★ Beautiful Cabinet Tone ★

SICILY, Syracuse. Hieronymos. 215-214 BC.
AR 10 Litrai
8,37 g - 21,62 mm
Time of Hieronymos, circa 215-214 BC.
Diademed head to left; K (retrograde) behind / BAΣIΛEOΣ IEPΩNYMOY, winged thunderbolt; KI above.

Good Extremely Fine; beautiful cabinet tone with iridescent highlights.

Hieronymos ascended to the throne of Syracuse at a time of crisis. A Roman consular army of eight legions and allied troops had been annihilated at Cannae only the year before, and Roman power had been dealt a considerable shock. The repercussions of that defeat had been profoundly felt in Sicily; the former king Hieron II had remained steadfast in his loyalty and support to Rome though a significant party in the city favoured abandoning the Roman alliance and joining the cause of Carthage, despite their traditional enmity to that people. The young Hieronymos, who had already shown signs of weakness and depravity of character, allowed himself to be influenced by his pro-Carthaginian uncles into breaking the alliance with Rome, a decision that would have disastrous consequences for Syracuse.