CAENA
CAENA a town of Sicily mentioned only in the Itinerary of Antoninus, which writes the name Cena, and places it on the SW. coast of the island, 18 miles W. of Agrigentum. (Itin. Ant. p. 88.) Though the name is not found in any earlier author, numismatists are generally agreed to assign to it the coins with the inscription KAINON, one of which is represented below.
These coins, which are found in considerable numbers in Sicily, were previously ascribed to the island of CAESNE, mentioned by Pliny (
3.8. s. 14) among the smaller islands between Sicily and Africa, and generally identified with the little islet now called
Cani, off the Gulf of Hippo on the coast of Africa.
But we have no reason to suppose that this barren rock ever was even inhabited, much less that it contained a city capable of striking coins: and the Greek legend of those in question, as well as their workmanship,
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| COIN OF CAENA. |
which is of a good Greek style, render it almost certain that they were struck in Sicily; though the existence of a city of the name of Caena in that island rests on very slight authority. (Eckhel. vol. i. p. 269 ; Sestini,
Lettere Numísmatiche, vol. i. p. 4.)
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E.H.B]
