Philistis

(Φίλιστις), a queen of Syracuse, known only from her coins, which are numerous, and of fine workmanship, and from the occurrence of her name (bearing the title of queen, as it does also on her coins) in an inscription in large letters on the great theatre of Syracuse. The circumstance that it is here associated with that of Neresis, the wife of Gelon, as well as the style and fabric of the coins, which closely resemble those of Hieron II. and his son, leads to the conclusion that these were struck during the long reign of Hieron II.; and the most probable conjecture is that Philistis was the wife of Hieron himself. (R. Rochette, Mémoires de Numismatiqce et d'Antiquití, pp. 63-78; Visconti, Iconogr. Grecque, vol ii. pp. 21-25. The earlier disquisitions and hypotheses on the subject are cited by these two authors.) [E.H.B]