Ancient Greece - 420-405 BCE Sicily, Kamarina Æ Tetras NGC AU

From the Faces in Time Collection of Ancient coinage (04).

SICILY, Kamarina. Circa 420-410 BC. AE Tetras (3.23 gm). Obverse: head of Athena left, wearing crested Corinthian or Attic helmet decorated with a wing. Reverse: KAMA in right field near rim, owl standing left, grasping lizard with talon; three pellets (mark of value) in exergue. Original green patina on both sides. Westermark & Jenkins 200. CNS III p. 63, 34. SNG ANS 1228-9.   

Camarina archaeological site: House of the Altar quarter.

The ruins of Kamarina are of great archeological interest, and give evidence of the utter vastness of the ancient site. The Kamarina Regional Archeological Museum is in the archeological park, within which includes several excavated remains:

• Agora
• the Temple of Athena
• foundations of homes
• the city wall
• the necropolis (cemetery or 'city of the dead' in ancient Greek) from the 7th and 5th-4th centuries BC has been carefully excavated. Some contents are currently in the Syracuse archeological museum.
• the port channel along the Ippari river is still identifiable. It was built in the Greek era with the adaptation of the river's mouth, and was in use for a long period as the hub of important commercial water traffic up to the Roman period.
• the vestiges of a "Hamman qbel Jamaa," the public baths used before entering the mosque, are one of only two known on Sicily.