Nomos 30

SICILY. Katane. Circa 410-405 BC. Drachm (Silver, 16 mm, 3.89 g, 12 h). Facing head of bald and bearded Silenos with pointed ears. Rev. ΚΑΤΑΝΑΙΩΝ Head of the river god Amenanos to left, his hair bound with a tainia and with a tiny horn on his forehead; behind, laurel leaf and berry. Franke/Marathaki 133. Jameson 554 (same dies). Kraay-Hirmer 46. Mirone 103. SNG ANS 1262 var. (no leaf and berry). Rizzo pl. XIV, 5 (these dies). Very rare. Minor roughness, otherwise, good very fine.

From a European collection formed prior to 2005.

This is one of those masterpieces that late 5th century engravers were capable of producing. The coin is unsigned but the quality of the facing head of Silenos makes it one of the very finest facing heads ever to appear on a Greek coin. Katana had a close connection to Silenos because of the vines around the city; as for Amenanos, he was the god of the local river, which flowed in and around the ancient city until the great eruption of Etna of 1669. It was then covered over and, in part, flows under the modern city, being tapped for the famous fountain of Amenano in the Piazza Duomo (built from Carrara marble in 1837 - the actual river flows about 2 meters below the fountain).