Syracuse in Sicily Tyrant Hieronymus & Ally of Hannibal Greek Coin i49199

Item: i49199

 Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek city of

Sicily
under

Hieronymus – King: 215-214 B.C.
Bronze 22mm (9.25 grams) Struck circa 215-214 B.C.
Reference: Sear 1224 var.; HGC 2, 1569; Calciati 204 R 13. R.R.; Holloway, The Thirteen
Months Coinage of Hieronymus of Syracuse, 76a; SNG ANS 1038.
Diademed head of Hieronymos left, beardless.
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΙΕΡΩNYMOY above and below winged
thunderbolt, above and below which T A.

King during the Second Punic War
between Rome and Carthage.

During that same year, the Greek cities in Sicily were induced
to revolt against Roman political control, while the Macedonian king,
Philip V

pledged his support
to Hannibal – thus
initiating the
First Macedonian War
against Rome. Hannibal
also secured an alliance with newly appointed King
Hieronymous
of
Syracuse
, and
Tarentum
also came over to him around that
time. Hannibal now had the resources and personnel needed to launch a successful
attack on the City of Rome.

While it was not directly connected with the Italian
peninsula,
Syracuse
on
Sicily
was important for securing the searoutes
for supply, since
Lilybaeum
remained in Roman hands. Hannibal was
aided by the fact that
Hiero II
, the old tyrant of Syracuse and a
staunch Roman ally, had died and his successor
Hieronymus
was discontented with his position
in the Roman alliance. Hannibal dispatched two of his lieutenants, who were of
Syracusian origin; they succeeded in winning Syracuse over, at the price,
however, of making the whole of Sicily a Syracusan possession. The Syracusans’
ambitions were great, but the army they fielded was no match for the arriving
Roman force, leading to the
siege of Syracuse
from 214 BC onwards. During
this siege, the ingenuity of
Archimedes
‘ machines defeated all Roman
attacks.

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Authenticity.  

Hieronymus (Greek:
Ἱερώνυμος; 231–214 BC) was a
tyrant
of
Syracuse
. He succeeded his grandfather,
Hiero II
, in 215 BC. He was at this time only fifteen years old, and he
ascended the throne at a crisis full of peril, for the
battle of Cannae
had given a shock to the
Roman
power, the influence of which had been felt in
Sicily
; and
though it had not shaken the fidelity of the aged Hieron, yet a large party at
Syracuse was already disposed to abandon the alliance of Rome for that of
Carthage
.
The young prince had already given indications of weakness, if not depravity of
disposition, which had alarmed his grandfather, and caused him to confide the
guardianship of Hieronymus to a council of fifteen persons, among whom were his
two sons-in-law, Andranodorus and Zoippus. But the objects of this arrangement
were quickly frustrated by the ambition of Andranodorus, who, in order to get
rid of the interference of his colleagues, persuaded the young king to assume
the reins of government, and himself set the example of resigning his office,
which was followed by the other guardians. Hieronymus now became a mere tool in
the hands of his two uncles, both of whom were favourable to the Carthaginian
alliance – and
Thrason
, the only one of his counsellors who retained any influence over his
mind, and who was a staunch friend of the Romans, was soon got rid of by a
charge of conspiracy.

The young king now sent ambassadors to
Hannibal
,
and the envoys of that general, Hippocrates and Epicydes, were welcomed at
Syracuse with the highest honours. On the other hand, the deputies sent by
Appius Claudius, the Roman praetor in Sicily, were treated with the utmost
contempt and it was evident that Hieronymus was preparing for immediate
hostilities. He sent ambassadors to Carthage, to conclude a treaty with that
power, by the terms of which the river
Himera
was to
be the boundary between the Carthaginians and Syracusans in Sicily but he
quickly raised his demands, and, by a second embassy, laid claim to the whole
island for himself. The Carthaginians readily promised every thing, in order to
secure his alliance for the moment, and he assembled an army of fifteen thousand
men, with which he was preparing to take the field, having previously dispatched
Hippocrates and Epicydes to sound the disposition of the cities subject to Rome,
when his schemes were suddenly brought to a close. A band of conspirators, at
the head of whom was Deinomenes, fell upon him in the streets of
Leontini
, and dispatched him with numerous wounds, before his guards could
come to his succour, 214 BC.

The short reign of Hieronymus, which had lasted only 13 months, had presented
the most striking contrast to that of his grandfather. Brought up in the midst
of all the enervating and corrupting influences of a court, his naturally bad
disposition, at once weak and violent, felt them all in their full force; and he
exhibited to the Greeks
the first instance of a childish tyrant. From the moment of his
accession he gave himself up to the influence of flatterers, who urged him to
the vilest excesses: he assumed at once all the external pomp of royalty which
Hieron had so studiously avoided; and while he plunged in the most shameless
manner into every species of luxury and debauchery, he displayed the most
unrelenting cruelty towards all those who became objects of his suspicion.
Polybius

indeed appears inclined to doubt the statements on this subject; and it is not
improbable that they may have been exaggerated by the writers to whom he refers:
but there is certainly nothing in the nature of the case to justify his
scepticism ; and the example, in later days, of
Elagabalus
,
to whose character that of Hieronymus appears to have borne much resemblance, is
sufficient to show how little any excesses that are reported of the latter can
be called incredible. Among other instances of his wanton contempt of public
decency, he is said to have married a common prostitute, on whom he bestowed the
title and honours of a queen.