The Sicilian Ptolemaic bronzes and the coinage of Hieron II of Syracuse

• Autores: Daniel Wolf
• Localización: Revue belge de numismatique et de sigillographie, ISSN 0774-5885, Nº. 168, 2022, págs. 113-131
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Ptolemy II Philadelphus minted bronze coins on Sicily and his contemporary ruling at Syracuse, Hieron II (hereafter, Hieron), minted imitations of them. That discovery drew on geographical, historical, and physical and quantitative numismatic evidence that was previously unnoticed. A large metrological survey of 3rd-c. BC Ptolemaic bronze coinage subsequently yielde results that impel consideration of new hypotheses about the Sicilian coins’ chronology and weight standard. This paper explores how the new evidence may better explain the relationships of the Sicilian Ptolemaic bronzes to the coinage systems of both Philadelphus and Hieron. These hypotheses imply that Ptolemaic and Syracusan monetary systems unified in a common bronze coinage standard. They also define confident values for Hieron’s bronze coins and constrain the chronology of historical events related to their production. This extends my analysis of the bronze coinage Reform of Ptolemy II and its connection to his Sicilian bronze coinage. Those ideas are more fully explored here to address the larger relationship between Ptolemaic and Hieronian coinage.