Монет­ный двор: Сира­ку­зы.
Работа под­пи­са­на гра­ве­ром Эвай­не­том.
Дата чекан­ки: ок. 400 г. до н. э.
Вес: 43.15 г.
Сохран­ность: Good EF.
Лите­ра­ту­ра:
De Luynes 1248 (эти штем­пе­ли);
Boston 421 (эти штем­пе­ли);
SNG Copenhagen 689 (эти штем­пе­ли);
Gallatin C II / R III.
Из евро­пей­ской част­ной кол­лек­ции и за пре­де­ла­ми Ита­лии ранее 19 янв. 2011 г.
Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG — Auction 59, lot 536 (04.04.2011).
Цена реа­ли­за­ции: 70000 CHF.

Монет­ный двор: Сира­ку­зы, Дио­нис I (406—367).
Работа под­пи­са­на гра­ве­ром Эвай­не­том.
Декад­рах­ма, атти­че­ский стан­дарт, сереб­ро.
Дата чекан­ки: ок. 400 г. до н. э.
Вес: 43.40 г.
Сохран­ность: Good EF.
Лите­ра­ту­ра:
BMC Sicily cf. 171, 176—181 (леген­да раз­би­та ина­че);
SNG ANS 364—366;
SNG München 1075;
Baumann 142;
A. Gallatin, Syracusan Dekadrachms of the Euainetos Type, Cambridge Mass, 1930, RIII/CI;
Antikenmuseum Basel 480;
Jameson 828;
M.-M. Bendenoun, Coins of the Ancient World, A Portrait of the JDL Collection, Tradart, Genève, 2009, 7 (эта моне­та).
Ex Tkalec AG, Zürich 1996, lot 13.
Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG — Auction 74, lot 281 (18.11.2013).
Цена реа­ли­за­ции: 400000 CHF.

Widely considered to be the most beautiful coins ever struck, the immense silver decadrachms of Syracuse from the later fifth century BC represent the full flowering of classical Greek sculptural art. Syracuse, the foremost Greek city in Sicily, had produced coins of exceptional beauty for nearly a century when, ca. 415 BC, engravers began signing their coin dies. Chief among these were the master engravers Kimon and Euainetos, whose large silver decadrachms seemed to capture the spirit of the artistic and intellectual revolution then sweeping the Greek world. The obverse of these pieces depicts a four-horse racing chariot, or quadriga, in full career to left while Nike, goddess of Victory, flies above to crown the driver with a laurel wreath. Below this scene is a set of Greek armor offered as a prize to the victorious charioteer. The reverse depicts a beautiful head of Arethusa, nymph of a sacred spring, with dolphins frolicking around her. This exceptional decadrachm shows the signature of Euainetos (abbreviated EY-AINE) below Arethusa’s neck. The decadrachm of Euainetos became a widely-copied archetype for Greek coinage, and the master engraver’s head of Arethusa remains a paradigm of cool, classical beauty today.

Coins of the artist Euainetos are among the most exquisite works of art from the ancient Greek world. Of special value are his decadrachms, which must have been distributed widely, for they were influential to artists in regions far removed from the shores of Sicily. It is unlikely that many were exported through the normal channels of commerce, and we might suggest that, much like the staters of Olympia, some were acquired as keepsakes and were carried to a variety of destinations. The decadrachms of Kimon and Euainetos were introduced early in the reign of the tyrant Dionysius I (405-367 B.C.), and those of Euainetos continued to be struck for decades, perhaps even beyond the 360s. We might presume that Dionysus took a personal interest in producing such large coins of fine style to evince his patronage of the arts and to promote the success of his rule. There is also good reason to believe that after the Euainetos’ initial contributions, die cutting for the series eventually was carried out by understudies and successors. In some cases Euainetos’ signature appears to have been retained as a fixed element of the design until about midway through, when it was lost altogether. In general, these understudies meticulously copied the work of the master engraver. Gallatin notes that the entire series “...shows a most amazing repetition of the details of the arrangement of the hair, locks and curls being slavishly repeated.” Though a precise context has not been convincingly established for the Syracusan decadrachms of Kimon and Euainetos, it is tempting to associate their introduction with a military victory. The display of armour and weaponry that appears in the exergue is militant, and the inscription AΘΛA, which indicates ‘prizes,’ or at least ‘agonistic contests,’ only adds to that prospect. Since it was a common practice of Greek soldiers to engrave dedicatory inscriptions on captured armour, a connection might be drawn between that phenomenon and what is presented on the decadrachms. The obverse also appears to allude to victory with its vivid scene of a charioteer guiding his team through a bend. The dies used to strike this particular decadrachm almost certainly were the work of Euainetos himself, for they are each the third in the series. This coin was struck from the first die in the series on which the engraver’s name is presented in the usual truncated form EYAINE, as the two dies that seem to have preceeded this one bear an expanded signature, either EYAINETOY or EYAINETO.

Dionysios assumed power in 405 BC and immediately set out to make Syracuse the greatest and best fortified city in all of Greece. He was defending against the renewed imperialistic expansion of Carthage. Three times he defeated the Carthaginians, bringing further prestige and wealth to Syracuse. During his reign, the Syracuse navy became the most powerful in the Mediterranean, allowing Syracuse to expand her territorial control over much of southern Italy.
Dionysios reintroduced the large and ostentatious silver dekadrachms, a denomination that had not been used in Syracuse since the Demareteion issue decades earlier. Dionysios entrusted two of the greatest local numismatic artists, Kimon and Euainetos, to design these impressive pieces. The regard for these coins in modern times is reflected by the fact that they are considered a must for any first rank collection of Greek coins.

Both his contemporaries and successors regarded Euainetos as the ultimate master. No work of ancient coinage has been copied over a longer period or more frequently than his signed Syracusan decadrachm. Most Siculo-punic issues replicate the chariot and team, as well as the head on the obverse. The female head in particular must have made an unusually deep impression on the ancients, appearing not only on gold and electrum Carthaginian issues, but also on many 4th and 3rd century B.C. coins from sites as geographically disparate as Spain and Crete. In the 3rd century B.C., the head even served as the model for the tondo on varnished Greek bowls. From copyists’ embellishments of corn-ears and stalks, we can only assume that they interpreted Euainetos’ female head as an effigy of Kore-Persephone. Most researchers have nonetheless interpreted the work as representing Arethusa, in which case the corn ears are out of place, although reeds of similar appearance would have fitted in very well. Such long-lasting impact and exceptional ubiquity is nevertheless understandable only in the context of a much-revered goddess, certainly not a local nymph.