Sicily, Syracuse. Agathokles. Silver Tetradrachm (16.90 g), 317-289 BC. Ca. 310/08-306/5 BC. KOPAΣ, wreathed head of Kore right, wearing single-pendant earring and necklace. Reverse: AΓAΘOKΛEOΣ in exergue, Nike standing right, and erecting trophy; to left, AN or AV monogram; to right, triskeles. Ierardi 215 (O59/R145); SNG ANS 679 (same obv. die). Boldly struck on a broad flan with underlying luster. Superb. Nearly Mint State. Estimated Value $3,000 - UP
The image of Nike erecting a trophy on the reverse of this handsome tetradrachm is thought to advertise the successes that Agathokles had enjoyed in defending Syracuse against a massive Carthaginian blockade (actually the work of his older brother, Antander) and in carrying the war against Carthage to Punic Libya in 310-307 BC. The type, however, gives no indication that when things began to sour in Libya, Agathokles quietly abandoned his troops and sailed home. Despite this unspoken truth, the iconography quickly seized the attention of contemporary Hellenistic rulers much further to the east, where the image of Nike erecting a trophy provided the model for a similar scene found on tetradrachms of Seleukos I Nikator (312-281 BC), probably struck shortly after the decisive Battle of Ipsos in 301 BC. As these coins were struck primarily in Susa, the influence of Agathokles seems to have spread quite far indeed.
Ex Roma XIX (26 Mrch 2020), 302; CNG XXXIV (6 May 1995), 37; Athena Fund, Sotheby's Zurich (27 October 1993), 275.