Drachm from Zankle-Messana, Sicily c. 525–494/3 BC
Obverse: Dolphin leaping to left, within a sickle-shaped harbor, surrounded by dots. Inscription in Greek. Reverse: Scallop shell in the middle of an incuse pattern of raised and sunk squares and triangles.
Founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BC, Messana (map) was originally called Zankle, from the Greek: ζάγκλον meaning “scythe” because of the shape of its natural harbour. Alternatively, a legend attributes the name to King Zanclus, the legendary first king of Messana. Whichever is true, the sickle shape of their harbor is reflected on the city’s coinage. In 494 BC while the Zanklian army was on campaign, the town was seized by refugees from Samos with the help of Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegium. The dispossessed locals turned to Hippocrates of Gela for help. He sent an army to their aid but then betrayed and enslaved them. In 488/7 BC Anaxilas tired of the Samians and expelled them, then founded a new city at Zankle and named it Messana, in honor of his original homeland in the Peloponnese.
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