Sicily, Himera. c. 530-483/2 BC

AR Litra, 0.92g (11.5mm, n/a).Rooster standing to l. / Mill-sail incuse square, with four raised and four sunken triangles; all within a rayed border.Pedigree: From the Collection of Jonathan H. Kagan; acquired at an American coin show from a dealer who thought it was from northern Greece...References: Buceti 5. HGC 2, 427. Kraay 286 (OF13/RF9)Grade: Nicely toned with minimal wear. A small slight die break extending along the edge of the obverse. Good VFgk1929The Greek love of symbology shines through in their numismatics. Rhodes for example employed an image of a rose for their city and Euboea (which means “well-off/good cattle”) often used a bull. Himera was no different. While not truly ubiquitous, more often than not you can find a rooster depicted on the local coinage. This holds true especially for the silver denominations. This particular coin follows the symbolical trend. While there is not a direct connection between the rooster and the city’s name, there is a clever tangential link! Rutter suggests in his 1997 book The Greek Coinages of Southern Italy and Sicily that the rooster is a linguistic reference to the name of the city - ημέρα (Himera) – which translates into “day” or “day-break” (1997, p. 106).