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Hieron II

AC07-0102
AC07-0102AC07-0102
ID Number: AC07-0102 Description: Hieron II Country or State: Syracuse Period: 275-215 BC Head of State/Ruler: Hieron II Reign: 275-215 BC Obverse: Head of Persephone left Obverse Legend: ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ Reverse: Bull butting left, club above Re ...Read more



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ID Number: AC07-0102
Description: Hieron II
Country or State: Syracuse
Period: 275-215 BC
Head of State/Ruler: Hieron II
Reign: 275-215 BC
Obverse: Head of Persephone left
Obverse Legend: ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ
Reverse: Bull butting left, club above
Reverse Legend: IEΦ in exergue
Composition: Bronze
Diameter: ~17.0 mm (irregular)
Weight: 4.1 grams
Catalog Number: SNG ANS 591-2; Calciati 199; SNG Copenhagen 870

Hieron II, king of Syracuse from 270 to 215 BC, was the illegitimate son of a Syracusan noble, Hierocles, who claimed descent from Gelon. He was a former general of Pyrrhus of Epirus and an important figure of the First Punic War.

On the departure of Pyrrhus from Sicily (275 BC) the Syracusan army and citizens appointed him commander of the troops. He strengthened his position by marrying the daughter of Leptines, the leading citizen. In the meantime, the Mamertines, a body of Campanian mercenaries who had been employed by Agathocles, had seized the stronghold of Messana, and proceeded in harassing the Syracusans. They were finally defeated in a pitched battle near Mylae by Hieron, who was only prevented from capturing Messana by Carthaginian interference. His grateful countrymen then made him king (270).

In 264 BC he again returned to the attack, and the Mamertines called in the aid of Rome. Hieron at once joined the Punic leader Hanno, who had recently landed in Sicily; but fighting a battle to an inconclusive outcome with the Romans led by the consul Appius Claudius Caudex, he withdrew to Syracuse. Pressed by the Roman forces, in 263 he concluded a treaty with Rome, by which he was to rule over the south-east of Sicily and the eastern coast as far as Tauromenium.

From this time till his death in 215 BC he remained loyal to the Romans, and frequently assisted them with men and provisions during the Punic war. He kept up a powerful fleet for defensive purposes, and employed his famous kinsman Archimedes in the construction of those engines that, at a later date, played so important a part during the siege of Syracuse by the Romans.

According to a story told by Vitruvius, Hiero suspected he was being cheated by the goldsmith to whom he had supplied the gold to make a votive crown for a temple. He asked Archimedes to find out if all the gold had been used, as had been agreed. Archimedes, on discovering the principle of displacement needed to measure the density of the crown is said to have shouted "eureka, eureka!" while running naked through Syracuse. Vitruvius concludes this story by stating that Archimedes' method successfully detected the goldsmith's fraud; he had taken some of the gold and substituted silver instead.