SICILY. Leontini. Circa 415-413 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 28 mm, 17.00 g, 1 h). Laureate head of Apollo to right. Rev. ΛEO-NT-I-NO-N Head of a lion with open jaws to right; around, four barley grains. Boehringer, Münzgeschichte, 67. Rizzo pl. XXIV, 15. SNG ANS 250 (same dies). Rare and of very elegant style. Light doubling on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.


This is the last Leontinian tetradrachm, struck during a brief period of independence amidst the Athenian siege of Syracuse in 415-413. Following the Athenian defeat, Leontini was incorporated into the Syracusan polis once again, as it had already been in 422-415, and remained part of the powerful neighbour for more than half a century - with the exception of a last brief period of independence in 405-403/2, when its only silver coinage consisted of extremely rare hemidrachms.