FOR CENTURIES, THE narrow Strait of Messina that separates Sicily from the toe of Italy has been a crossroads of history.

The town of Rhegium (or Rhegion, today Reggio di Calabria) located on the Italian side of the Strait, was one of the first Greek cities in Italy, founded by colonists from Chalcis in the eighth century BCE. Cities of this region competed vigorously during the fifth and fourth centuries BCE to create coins of enduring classical beauty, and the silver tetradrachms of Rhegium stand as some of the finest - and most highly valued - products of the ancient engraver's art.

Messana. 478-476 BCE. AR Tetradrachm (24mm, 16.96 g, 5h). Charioteer driving biga of mules right; leaf in exergue / Hare springing right. Caltabiano B1 ('Barbarous'; same dies as illustration); SNG ANS -; SNG Tübingen 605 (same dies); Weber 1412 (same dies); HGC 2, 779. Near EF, toned.Estimate: $200.

In 494 BCE a man named Anaxilas became tyrant of Rhegium. In ancient Greek, a tyrannos was a ruler that "owed his power neither to his royal descent nor to a constitutional appointment and was not bound by any laws (Jones, 236)."

Among his actions, Anaxilas captured the seaport of Zancle on the Sicilian side of the Strait and renamed it Messana (today Messina, Italy). And when his team won the mule cart race in the Olympic games, Anaxilas commemorated this victory on coins issued in both towns that he controlled. The reverse of the coins depicts a leaping hare, supposedly because Anaxilas was proud of having introduced this prolific animal to Sicily for the benefit of hunters. The coins of Messana are considerably more common than those of Rhegium.

To read the complete article, see:
The Coinage of Rhegium(https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/the-coinage-of-rhegium/)