The Hellenistic Queen. A Coin of Syracuse

Sicily. Syracuse. Philistis, wife of Hieron II (275-215 BC). AR 16 Litrai-Tetradrachm, c. 218-214 BC. Obv. Diademed and veiled bust left; behind, wreath. Rev. BAΣIΛIΣΣAΣ/ΦIΛIΣTIΔOΣ. Nike driving walking quadriga right; ϕ above.

It’s fairly uncommon to see portraiture of mortal women on ancient Greek coins, but here Heiro, tyrant of Syracuse, not only to put this image on his coinage, but boldly proclaims it to be of Basilissas Philistidos ‘ Of Queen Philistis’.  She is unnamed in classical texts but we know that a daughter of Leptines, a popular and influential citizen of Syracuse, married Heiro II after his military coup of Syracuse in 275 BC, and so her name is linked to and survives only due to issues of this coinage, which greatly outnumber those in the name of her husband, and a single surviving inscription in stone.

Minted between 218 and 214 BC this coin is very similar to a slightly earlier Ptolemaic issue featuring the image of Berenice II, wife of Ptolemy III, which includes the legend Berenike Basilissa.  Is this portraiture therefore part of an artistic, religious or political alignment between Syracuse and Ptolemaic Egypt? 

I slightly question the orthodoxy here as, if truly the daughter of Leptines married in 275 BC, Philistis would have been about 75 years old at the time of this portrait. Extraordinarily well preserved in more ways than one!