ANCIENT GREECE - GREEK Sicily, Syracuse, Agathocles (317-289 BC). 50 litrai or golden decadrachm ND (317-310 BC), Syracuse. Av. laureate head of Apollo left. Rv. ΣΥΡ-Α-Κ-[ΟΣΙΩΝ]. Bige led by an aurige galloping right; below, a triskel. Dewing 934 v. - Gulbenkian 327 v. - SNG ANS 550 v.; Gold - 4.25 g - 15 mm - 12 h NGC VF 5/5 4/5 Fine Style (8585316-004). Light wear, even, with golden patina. Superb. Agathocles seized power in Syracuse in 317 with a band of mercenaries. He had some of Syracuse's oligarchs executed and strengthened his power to subdue the whole of Sicily. Having eliminated the Carthaginians, against whom he was the first to lead a military expedition to North Africa, he proclaimed himself king (basileus) of Sicily in 306. Posing as Alexander's successor, he pursued a policy of alliance with other Hellenistic rulers, such as Ptolemy, whose daughter he married, and Pyrrhus I of Epirus, to whom he married his daughter. During his reign, he was the guarantor of trade in the western Mediterranean. Following his assassination in 289, Sicily experienced twenty years of political turmoil until the arrival of Hieron. For the arts, his reign marked a turning point between the late classical style and the new Hellenistic fashions.