SICILY - PANORME 336-330. Aurige holding the kentron... Lot 6

SICILY - PANORME 336-330. Aurige holding the kentron and the reins of a quadriga galloping on the left. He is crowned by a Victory. Sign of Tanit before the charioteer. In exergue, swan flying left. R/. Head of the nymph Arethusa on the right, wearing an ampyx and surrounded by four dolphins. She is adorned with earrings and a necklace decorated with a lion's head. CNP 348a; HGC 2, 1013 corr; Jameson 730; Weber 1476 Silver tetradrachm. (17.37 g) Of very fine style. Axial protuberances. T.B./Very nice. Syracuse is the capital of the monetary art. The type of the nymph Arethusa is immortalized and is perpetuated during three centuries. She is the nymph hunter of Elide metamorphosed into a fountain. The story of an impossible love between Arethusa and the river-god Alpheus. The eternal beauty sung by the poet José Maria de Heredia: Time passes. Everything dies. The marble itself wears out. Agrigento is only a shadow, and Syracuse Sleeps under the white shroud of its indulgent sky; And only the hard metal that love made docile Still keeps in its flower, with the silver medals, The immortal beauty of the virgins of Sicily.