169, Lot: 15. Estimate $750. Sold for $2205. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Syracuse. Deinomenid Tyranny. 485-466 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 16.92 g). Struck circa 484-483 BC. Charioteer driving quadriga right, holding kentron and reins; above, Nike flying right, crowning horses / Diademed head of Arethusa right; four dolphins swimming around. Boehringer 38 (V26/R22); SNG ANS 7 (same dies). Near VF, toned.

Ex Triton III (30 November-1 December 1999), lot 255.

Deinomenes was the father of Gelon, a cavalry officer and bodyguard of Hippokrates, tyrant of Gela. When Hippokrates died in 491, popular opinion rose against his sons as successors. Loyal Gelon suppressed the revolt, but somehow the end result was the elevation of Gelon himself to the rank of tyrant. Around 485 the opportunistic Gelon took advantage of similar unrest in Syracuse to seize that city, which became the center of his rapidly growing realm and the most prominent city in Sicily. Gelon died in 478 BC, and his brothers Hieron and Thrasybulus continued the dynasty until 466, when the latter was expelled by a general revolt of all the cities under his rule. The charioteer, used also at Gela (see lot 12), marks Gelon’s victory at the Olympic games of 488 BC.