Akragas, Sicily AE21 Hexas (2/12 Litra, 8g) 500-400 BCE 

• -450 
• KM#  
• Akragas 

  + 1

  Greece (ancient)
• AE 21 

7227427

Coins

Akragas, Sicily AE21 Hexas (2/12 Litra, 8g) 500-400 BCE

Akragas, Greece (ancient)

-450

Crabs, Eagles, Fish

8

21

* * (2/12th Litra)

AKP

KM#

Calciati I pg. 189, 73; SNG ANS 1051

Obv; Crab, with pellet on both sides, Rev; Eagle, with head lowered, standing right on fish A freshwater crab probably represent the river god, and the sea-eagle Zeus. Akragas (aka Agrigento) was founded on a plateau overlooking the sea, with two nearby rivers, the Hypsas and the Akragas. It grew rapidly, becoming one of the richest and most famous of the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia. The city remained neutral in the conflict between Athens and Syracuse, was sacked by the Carthage in 406 BCE, and was disputed between the Rome and the Carthage during the First Punic War. The Romans laid siege to the city in 262 BCE and captured it after defeating a Carthaginian relief force in 261 BCE. The city was recaptured by Carthage in 255 BCE, but a later peace settlement gave Punic Sicily and with it Akragas to Rome. Akragas also suffered badly during the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE) when both Rome and Carthage fought to control it. The Romans eventually captured Akragas in 210 BCE and renamed it Agrigentum, although it remained a largely Greek-speaking community for centuries thereafter. It became prosperous again under Roman rule and its inhabitants received full Roman citizenship following the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the city passed into the hands of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy, then the Byzantine Empire, Saracen (Muslims), and the Normans under Count Roger I in 1087, who established a Latin bishopric.