Posts tagged 'History'

Undoubtedly the finest specimen known of this wonderful issue bearing one of the finest front facing portraits on Greek coins. Of extraordinary late Classical style and with a delightful old cabinet tone.

Perhaps unexpectedly, Clazomenae produced some of the finest facing-head portraits on all Greek coins, with most of them being unsigned masterpieces. However, one artist, Theodotos must have been renowned in his day, for he boldly signed his work “Theodotos made it”.

Erhart notes that this kind of declaratory signature has few parallels in Greek coinage, perhaps only at Cydonia on Crete and at Thurium in Lucania.

The history of Kamarina, a port city on the southern coast of Sicily, is among the most tumultuous of Ancient Greece. It was founded in 599 BCE by settlers from Syracuse and its location allowed it to grow quickly and amass substantial wealth through trade.

However, within 40 years of its founding, Syracuse began to perceive it as a threat because of its success. The city was destroyed by Syracuse in 553 BCE and then re-founded by colonists from Gela, only to be destroyed again by Syracuse and re-founded for a third time by Gela in 461 BCE.

Even with Gela’s support, Kamarina was still weak, leading it to look for stronger allies to defend against future attacks from Syracuse. It sought out the support of Leontinoi until that city was destroyed by Syracuse in 422 BCE. It finally reached some semblance of stability through the protection of Athens, but Kamarina approached this alliance cautiously while waiting to see if Athens was indeed stronger than Syracuse.