Nomos 27

SICILY. Syracuse. Dionysios I, 405-367 BC. Dekadrachm (Silver, 35 mm, 43.42 g, 10 h), unsigned but in the style of Euainetos, circa 400-390 BC. Charioteer, wearing long chiton, holding goad in his right hand and the reins in his left, driving a racing quadriga to left; above, Nike flying right to crown the charioteer; in the exergue on two steps, a panoply of arms. Rev. Σ-ΥΡΑ-Κ-[Ο-Σ-ΙΩΝ] Head of Kore-Persephone to left, her hair bound in a wreath of (grain) leaves, wearing a pearl necklace and a triple-pendant earring; behind her neck, scallop shell with seven ridges; around, four dolphins. Buceti 571. Gallatin RXIV/F.VIIa (these dies). Gulbenkian 315 (= Ga. 11 same dies). Pozzi 617 (= Ga. 14 same dies). Very attractively toned and well-struck. Obverse struck from a worn die, otherwise, about extremely fine.

Ex Stack's 486, 10 June 1996, 161 and Classical Numismatic Group XXIV, 9 December 1992, 194.

Why in around 400 BC did the Syracusans under Dionysios I change from using a head of Arethusa on their coins, to using a head of Kore-Persephone? This seems clear from the way the head, which had first been simply adorned with a taenia, then with various kinds of ever-more elaborate hair bands, suddenly changes to being crowned with a wreath of grain leaves (they are really not water plants). Why did Arethusa go out of fashion? Could it be that this change was the personal decision of Dionysios as a sign of his power? Was the nymph Arethusa a symbol of a Syracusan government under tyrannical, democratic or oligarchic control, while the head of a much higher ranking goddess served as the badge of a state that was under the ruler with the quasi-monarchical power of Dionysios I? In any case, from this point on Arethusa disappears from the coinage of Syracuse.