bgr_570640 - SICILY - GELA Tétradrachme

SICILY - GELA

(420-415 BC)

The coinage of Géla, founded in 688 BC by Rhodian and Cretan settlers, began around 498 BC. Gélon and Hiéron were from Géla before successively becoming tyrants of Syracuse. The city experienced economic and artistic development between 450 and 410 BC. Gela was taken and destroyed by the Carthaginians in 405 BC. On the reverse of the coins of Gela, the androcephalic bull represents a river god who could come from the metropolis of the Sicilian city, Rhodes (Caria), where the cult of the anthropomorphic god Archelus is attested.