In the course of the 2nd millennium BC, Sicels settled in Sicily. The exact time of their migration is unknown. What is certain, however, is that the Sicels arrived in Sicily long before the Greeks. This people, called Sikeloi by the Greeks, have given the island its name.
By the middle of the 5th century BC the process of hellenization was so far advanced, that the Sicels began to mint their own coins. The Sicelian coins were held in Greek stile, and the favored denomination was the litra. This coin was supposedly made in Tauromenium (todays Taormina). Our coin bears a galloping horse on the obverse and on the reverse an A within a laurel wreath.