ELECTRUM COIN ROMAN SERIES

The earliest of these were made of gold and the later ones produced in a mix of gold and silver called electrum. all have the same design: the head of the goddess Tanit on the obverse and a standing horse with a palm tree in the background on the reverse.

ELECTRUM COIN ROMAN SERIES

A small and remarkable series shows on its reverse a prowling lion with a palm tree in the background.īy contrast, the gold and electrum staters issued at Carthage from about 350 to 270 B.C.

The most common reverse type shows a small palm tree behind the head and neck of a horse, and rarer issues show a horse prancing, trotting, galloping, leaping or standing with a palm tree in the background. On most Siculo-Punic tetradrachms the obverse shows a youthful head of the Greek hero Hercules or a female divinity (Arethusa or Tanit), often surrounded by dolphins. Except for the earliest Siculo-Punic types, the usual obverse design showed the head of a divinity and the reverse showed a horse or horse and palm tree. In this period horse and palm tree designs defined Carthaginian coinage. It mainly included gold and electrum staters struck at Carthage and small copper coins struck in Sicily, Sardinia and at Carthage. The era of production was about 350 to 250 B.C. In addition to these Siculo-Punic types, the Carthaginians also produced coins at their capital city and at other mints. Some of the designs are Carthaginian originals showing a horse and a palm tree in various configurations. Presumably this made them more acceptable to the Greek mercenaries who the Carthaginians hired to fight in Sicily. Most of the designs on these coins copy those of Syracuse, the main Greek city on the island. Many silver coins are associated with Carthaginian efforts to defeat the Greeks in Sicily during this long period. They found considerable success, but the plague affected the Carthaginian armies and brought an end to Carthage’s efforts.Īnimosity between the Greeks and Carthaginians continued to run high, with a frequent return to hostilities, into the early third century B.C. These Siculo-Punic coins were associated with Carthaginian efforts from about 410 to 396 B.C. Most of these early “Siculo-Punic” issues were silver tetradrachms and didrachms, though some silver fractions and base metal issues also were struck. The rest of Sicily was under Greek control, except for inland areas, which still were home to native settlements. at their strongholds in northwestern Sicily. The first Carthaginian coins were struck late in the fifth- and early in the fourth-centuries B.C. Raids by local Berbers were a constant source of anxiety, and its proximity to Greeks and Romans in Sicily and Italy fueled centuries of warfare for supremacy in the region.

Being on the African continent, it was also ideal for trade with sub-Saharan Africa, and in time its coastal territories were developed into a rich agricultural belt.

Those intrepid sailors sought good harbors to support their mercantile interests, and few sites in the Western Mediterranean were as well suited as Carthage.įurthermore, it was close to Sicily, Italy, Sardinia and Corsica, and not too distant from the Balearic Islands, Spain and Gaul. by colonists from Tyre in Phoenicia, at the other end of the Mediterranean. it was again large and prosperous, and it remained a key city of the Roman Empire until it was conquered by the Vandals some four centuries later.Ĭarthage had been founded late in the ninth century B.C.

As one of the great cities of the ancient world, Carthage witnessed its share of successes and failures until, in 146 B.C., it was destroyed by the Romans.Įven so, its ideal location and sheltered harbor allowed the city to return to importance.

Electrum coin roman