Coinage
The only truly contemporary source material that we have for Agathokles is his coinage and it has a number of stories to tell that no other source offers. The circulation patterns of Agathokles’ coinage show that Syracuse’s economic interactions with the wider world under Agathokles were similar to those which took place under his predecessor Dionysios. Quantification of Agathokles’ coinage allows us to compare his economic resources with those of his predecessors and contemporaries. The iconography of Agathokles’ coinage shows the same effort to connect Agathokles to both his Sicilian predecessors and Macedonian contemporaries. The idea that the legends and iconography of Agathokles’ coins illustrate a transition from tyrant to Hellenistic king is challenged.