of which is ascertained, have usually been massed together under the general heading of " Autonomous, of Syracuse." This applies more especially to the many varieties of copper coins struck during so long a period of Syracusan history.

I have, therefore, divided into periods the history of the city, and have assigned to each the coins of all metals which appear to hang together in groups whenever, from internal evidence or analogy, this course was possible. I believe that by the adoption of this plan, the date, often within a few years, may be fixed of the issue of very many coins which it would be otherwise impossible, judging simply from the style of their work, to attribute, except in a very general manner.

The above remarks on the separation of the metals apply with still greater force to the coins of the later tyrants, which are often described by themselves at the end of the autonomous series. It will at once be seen how important are these pieces which proclaim their own history, and tell us distinctly by whom they were issued. These are our landmarks. The plan which I here submit to the consideration of students is to take a general view of the chronology of Syracusan history-to draw, as it were, a map in outline, and then to fill it in, first of all by placing under their respective dates such coins as tell their own story, and then, proceeding by analogy of style, similarity of type and fabric, identity of monograms, single letters, symbols, and the like, to complete the picture by the attribution of all such coins as, taken by themselves, give us no clue to their exact place in the historical scheme.

It is surprising how few of the autonomous coins of Syracuse will not thus fall into their proper places, and

so the whole series will form a numismatic commentary upon the history of the city-a history which is a continual alternation between free popular democracies and tyrannical governments, succeeding one another at frequent intervals, from the time of the oligarchy of the Geomori, in the sixth century B.C., when the earliest coins were issued, down to the siege and capture of the city by Marcellus in B.C. 212, after which date Syracuse, with all Sicily, sank into the condition of a mere province of the great Roman Republic, and lost the privilege of striking money in its own name-at any rate in the precious metals; for, judging from the style of some of the copper, it seems to have been permitted to strike in that metal for some considerable time after its capture.

The coins of Syracuse, when thus arranged in chronological sequence, will provide us with a valuable means for arranging in a similar manner those of the other Greek cities of Sicily, and these, on the other hand, will be a sort of check on the accuracy of the arrangement of the Syracusan series, many of the Syracusan types having been adopted, on various occasions, by other cities in the island, which occasionally supply us with more precise chronological indications.

The coins of Alexander and Pyrrhos of Epirus, struck in Southern Italy and Sicily, will also afford us valuable data for the attribution of certain Syracusan types, which bear a marked resemblance to them in style. Alexander was in Italy between the years 332 and 326 B.C., and Pyrrhos in Sicily between 278 and 276. Both these monarchs struck coins which, on account of their style, are generally acknowledged to be the work of Italian and Sicilian Greeks. When, therefore, we find certain Syracusan types closely allied to the coins of these two kings,

we are justified in attributing the one set to the time of Alexander and the other to that of Pyrrhos.

No less apparent is the influence of Corinth on the Syracusan coinage during the time when the Corinthian Timoleon was occupied in the emancipation of Syracuse from the tyranny of the successors of Dionysios, and also of all the Greek cities of Sicily from their several tyrants, and from the Carthaginian dominion. Consequently, about this period we can trace in the coinage of some Sicilian towns a community of type and a similarity of style with that of Syracuse which mark them as belonging to this time of renewed prosperity and freedom, when the worship of Zeus Eleutherios, which had been first of all established at Syracuse in B.c. 466, on the restoration of democracy after the exile of Thrasybulos, seems, after the lapse of a century and more, again to have called forth the religious feelings of the people in gratitude for liberty and order regained after so long a period of tyranny and anarchy.

The history of the city of Syracuse may be divided into the following periods :

IV. Democracy before the Athenian siege 466-415

V. Democracy after the siege

VI. Dionysios and his successors

412-406

406-345

.

VII. Timoleon and Democracy restored

XI. Pyrrhos.

278-276

XII. Hieron II. (Gelon II. and Philistis). 275-216

Before classifying the coins under the foregoing headings, I carefully abstained from reading anything that had previously been written on the subject, in order that whatever my arrangement might be worth, it might at all events be independent work. Not until the classification was complete, and its own place assigned to each coin, according to the best of my judgment, did I consult the following works. I then discovered that, taking my classification as a whole, I was, generally speaking, in agreement with former workers, with a few important exceptions, notably as regards the first copper money issued by Syracuse, where I differ entirely from Brandis, and as to the relative values of gold and silver after the middle of the fourth century B.C., where I am sorry to disagree with so high an authority as Mommsen. Among the works which I have consulted, I may mention the following as the most important:

Grote, History of Greece.

Mommsen, Histoire de la Monnaie Romaine. Ed. Blacas. In. troduction, ch. ii.

Brandis, J., Münz- Mass- und Gewichtswesen, &c., p. 274 sqq. De Luynes, Rev. Num. Française, 1843.

Leake, Trans. R. Soc. Lit., ser. ii. vol. iii. 1850.

Brunet de Presle, Établissements des Grecs en Sicile.

R. Rochette, Mém. de Numismatique et d'Antiquité., Paris, 1840. Sur les Médailles Siciliennes de Pyrrhus, Roi d'Épire, &c.

R. Rochette, Graveurs des Monnaies Grecques.

De Luynes, Annali dell' Inst. Arch., 1830, p. 81. Du Demaretion.

G. Romano, Annali dell' Inst. Arch., vol. xxxvi. 1864.
R. Rochette, Annali dell' Inst. Arch., vol. i. p. 340 sqq.

Alessi, Bulletino dell' Inst. Arch., 1833, No. 1, p. 8-15. De nummo Hieronis II.

Kenner, F., Die Münzsammlung des Stiftes St. Florian, pp. 13-16 and 49-55.

Salinas, Le Monete delle antiche Città di Sicilia, pl. I.—VIII. Di due Monete della Regina Filistide, Periodico di Numismatica e Sfragistica, i. p. 193 sqq.

6

Imhoof-Blumer, Num. Zeitsch., iii., p. 4.

Berl. Blatt., v. 58.

Waddington, Mélanges de Numismatique, 2me série, p. 46-56.

I have, for the most part, confined my remarks to coins which I have seen with my own eyes, as, unless one is very sure of the fabric and style of a piece, it is hazardous to attribute from engravings, however good. Where a coin is not in the Museum collection, I have therefore noticed the fact.

I. OLIGARCHY OF THE GEOMORI, SIXTH

CENTURY B.C.

The earliest coins of Syracuse are universally acknowledged to be tetradrachms and didrachms of Attic weight. The obverse of the former has a quadriga driven by a male charioteer; that of the latter a naked horseman riding upon one horse and leading a second. The reverses of these coins consist of an incuse square divided into four quarters, in the centre of which is a female head. These coins are also characterized by the absence of the Nike, who crowns sometimes the driver and sometimes the horses, on all the Syracusan tetradrachms of later date, down to the time of Agathokles. The form of the is also peculiar (), and does not again occur. The full inscription, which, however, is generally abbreviated, is YRAQOSION. There can be little doubt that these coins are antecedent to the tyranny of Gelon, and must therefore be attributed to the oligarchy of the Geomori, late in the sixth century B.C. (Pl. I. 1—2.)

II. GELON, B.C. 485-478.

The coins which follow next in order to those above described still preserve the Q in the inscription, but the