SICILY. Syracuse. Timoleon and the Third Democracy, 344-317 BC. Stater (Silver, 19 mm, 8.60 g, 9 h), Corinthian standard. Pegasos flying left. Rev. ΣYPAKOΣION (sic!) Head of Athena to right, wearing Corinthian helmet. HGC 2, 1400. Pegasi 1/2 = SNG Ashmolean 2033 (same obverse die). SNG ANS 494-5. Very rare with the ethnic ending on ON instead of ΩN. A gorgeous coin, beautifully toned, sharply struck, and with wonderfully smooth and even surfaces. A hint of die rust on the obverse, otherwise, good extremely fine.



Dispatched from Corinth, the mother city of Syracuse, to Sicily in response to a plea for help, Timoleon not only expelled the tyrants Dionysios II and Hiketas from the city but also implemented extensive democratic reforms and brought in new settlers from Greece. His most significant achievement was his victory over a large Carthaginian army at the Battle of the Krimisos in 341 or 340 BC, which curtailed Punic influence in Sicily for many years. Despite these successes making him undoubtedly the most powerful man on the island, Timoleon - much to the surprise of his contemporaries - publicly withdrew from political life in 337 BC. Although he continued to wield decisive influence in the Syracusan Assembly, his renunciation of absolute power was a rare exception in Sicilian history, so full of tyrants. Timoleon, who eventually became completely blind, likely died only a few years later, greatly advanced in age and deeply revered. His influence on Syracusan coinage is evident in the adoption of the leading denomination and iconography of his Corinthian homeland, the silver Pegasi, representing another of the many reforms he implemented.