Decadrachm with an Image of the Nymph Arethusa

ca. 412 BCE-393 BCE
Workshop of Euainetos

Founded in Sicily in 734 or 733 BCE by colonists from Corinth, Syracuse issued significant coinage in gold, silver and then bronze from about 520 BCE. The decadrachm of the Louvre Abu Dhabi constitutes the masterpiece of this abundant production. It bears the emblematic images of the Syracusan series, namely the quadriga or four-horse chariot, and the head of the nymph Arethusa, associated with the freshwater spring near which the city was founded. The contrast between the superb modelling of the nymph’s ideal classical features and her tousled hair endows the portrait with rare expressive power. The signature of the engraver Euainetos appears beneath the nymph’s head, thus acknowledging his status as an authentic artist who was renowned in antiquity far beyond the city’s boundaries.