Gold of ancient Syracuse found

Archaeologists have uncovered a rare fifth-century BC Syracusan gold coin during an emergency excavation at the Maddalusa necropolis near Agrigento, Sicily. The discovery was made during the recovery of a Greek tile-covered burial, known as a cappuccina tomb, in the coastal dunes west of the mouth of the Akragas River. The excavation revealed an exceptionally well-preserved gold coin dating to the final decades of the fifth century BC. The obverse depicts the head of Heracles facing left, wearing the leontè—the skin of the Nemean Lion, which he defeated during his first labour. The reverse features a quadripartite incuse square enclosing a small female head, accompanied by the inscription Syra, identifying the coin as an issue from Syracuse.

The coin belongs to a series of emergency gold issues struck by Syracuse during the Carthaginian invasion of Sicily at the end of the fifth century BC. The city minted these coins to help finance its military campaign as it allied with Akragas against advancing Carthaginian forces. In 406 BC, Carthaginian armies captured and destroyed Akragas after a prolonged siege, marking the end of the city’s Golden Age as one of the leading Greek colonies. The Maddalusa necropolis is recognized as one of the primary burial sites of ancient Akragas.