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Up for auction is an Anonymous Sicilian Greek coin from Messana (The Mamertinoi), 211-208 BC
Diameter: 25mm
ID# 901N
MINT: Messana
OBVERSE; NONE
- Laureate head of Ares left.
REVERSE; MAMEPTINΩN
- Horseman standing to left, holding spear and placing hand on head of horse standing to left.
REFERENCE: HGC 2, 849
The Mamertines (Latin: Mamertini, "sons of Mars", Greek: Μαμερτῖνοι) were mercenaries of Italian origin who had been hired from their home in Campania by Agathocles (361–289 BC), Tyrant of Syracuse and self-proclaimed King of Sicily. After Syracuse lost the Seventh Sicilian War, the city of Messina was ceded to Carthage in 307 BC. When Agathocles died in 289 BC he left many of his mercenaries idle and unemployed in Sicily. Most of them returned home but some, liking the climate and the prospect of adventure on a foreign island, remained. They played a major role in the lead-up to the First Punic War.
In 280 BC, the Syracusans appealed to King Pyrrhus of Epirus for help against the Mamertines